apache/dolphinscheduler · error · IllegalArgumentException

Can not find valid workflow by name %s

Error message

Can not find valid workflow by name %s

What it means

getWorkflowInfo resolves a workflow definition by name; when the lookup returns null it throws IllegalArgumentException. The Python gateway needs the workflow's id/name/code to attach tasks, so a missing workflow blocks workflow generation.

Source

Thrown at dolphinscheduler-api/src/main/java/org/apache/dolphinscheduler/api/python/PythonGateway.java:538

    public Map<String, Object> getWorkflowInfo(String userName, String projectName,
                                               String workflowName) {
        Map<String, Object> result = new HashMap<>();

        User user = usersService.queryUser(userName);
        Project project = projectService.queryByName(user, projectName);
        long projectCode = project.getCode();
        WorkflowDefinition workflowDefinition = getWorkflow(user, projectCode, workflowName);
        // get workflow info
        if (workflowDefinition != null) {
            // make sure workflow online
            workflowDefinitionService.onlineWorkflowDefinition(user, projectCode, workflowDefinition.getCode());
            result.put("id", workflowDefinition.getId());
            result.put("name", workflowDefinition.getName());
            result.put("code", workflowDefinition.getCode());
        } else {
            String msg = String.format("Can not find valid workflow by name %s", workflowName);
            log.error(msg);
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(msg);
        }

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get project, workflow, task code.
     * Useful in Python API create dependent task which need workflow information.
     *
     * @param projectName  project name which workflow belongs to
     * @param workflowName workflow name
     * @param taskName     task name
     */
    public Map<String, Object> getDependentInfo(String projectName, String workflowName, String taskName) {
        Map<String, Object> result = new HashMap<>();

        Project project = projectDao.queryByName(projectName);
        if (project == null) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 02eac45a1b)

Solutions

  1. Confirm the workflow exists in the target project via the web UI and match the name exactly
  2. Create the workflow or fix the name in the Python script
  3. Ensure the project/workflow name pair is correct — names are scoped per project
  4. Re-run after syncing definitions between environments

Example fix

// before (Python)
workflow = Workflow(name="etl_daily", project=project)
# getWorkflowInfo("etl-daily") fails
// after
workflow = Workflow(name="etl-daily", project=project)  # matches existing workflow
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// caller-side (Python): confirm the workflow exists before lookup
if workflow_name not in project.list_workflows():
    raise ValueError(f"Workflow {workflow_name} does not exist in project")

Try / catch

try {
    Map<String, Object> info = pythonGateway.getWorkflowInfo(workflowName);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    log.error("Workflow not found: {}", e.getMessage());
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getWorkflowInfo(workflowName) for a workflow name that does not exist (the query itself throws or returns null before this branch when the workflow is absent).

Common situations: Python script referencing a workflow defined in another project/environment; workflow renamed or deleted; project code mismatch so lookup happens in wrong project; typo in workflow name.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Not found" and "does not exist" errors: why "Task not found", "No such folder", and "Can't find" fire when a lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 14 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/dolphinscheduler@02eac45a1b (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/66b5991ba3446c45. Report an issue: GitHub.