apache/dolphinscheduler · error · IllegalStateException

"The workflow: " + workflowExecution.getName() + " state is

Error message

"The workflow: " + workflowExecution.getName() + " state is " + workflowExecution.getState() + " can only finish with success/failed/stop but exist task chain which state is not success/failure/kill"

What it means

Thrown by the READY_STOP state action when a workflow in READY_STOP state is asked to emit a finished event but the task execution graph has chains whose state is not success/failure/kill. Stop semantics permit finishing only via success, failed, or kill; any other chain state makes a finished event invalid, so the engine throws this IllegalStateException.

Source

Thrown at dolphinscheduler-master/src/main/java/org/apache/dolphinscheduler/server/master/engine/workflow/statemachine/WorkflowReadyStopStateAction.java:149

        final IWorkflowExecutionGraph workflowExecutionGraph =
                workflowExecution.getWorkflowExecuteContext().getWorkflowExecutionGraph();
        final WorkflowEventBus workflowEventBus = workflowExecution.getWorkflowEventBus();
        if (workflowExecutionGraph.isExistKilledTaskExecutionChain()) {
            workflowEventBus.publish(WorkflowStoppedLifecycleEvent.of(workflowExecution));
            return;
        }

        if (workflowExecutionGraph.isExistFailureTaskExecutionChain()) {
            workflowEventBus.publish(WorkflowFailedLifecycleEvent.of(workflowExecution));
            return;
        }

        if (workflowExecutionGraph.isAllTaskExecutionChainSuccess()) {
            workflowEventBus.publish(WorkflowSucceedLifecycleEvent.of(workflowExecution));
            return;
        }

        throw new IllegalStateException(
                "The workflow: " + workflowExecution.getName() + " state is "
                        + workflowExecution.getState()
                        + " can only finish with success/failed/stop but exist task chain which state is not success/failure/kill");
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 02eac45a1b)

Solutions

Find the offending task chain state in the workflow instance detail and manually kill or force-finish the stuck task.
Re-issue a stop (kill) command so remaining chains transition to KILL, then let the workflow finish.
Check master logs for kill-timeout or worker-unreachable errors; ensure workers are healthy and reachable.
Upgrade the master if stop/kill races repeatedly leave chains non-terminal; report as a bug if stock code hits this.

Example fix

// before
throw new IllegalStateException("... exist task chain which state is not success/failure/kill");
// after
if (workflowExecutionGraph.isAllTaskExecutionChainFinished()) {
    workflowEventBus.publish(WorkflowStopLifecycleEvent.of(workflowExecution));
    return;
}
throw new IllegalStateException("... exist task chain which state is not success/failure/kill");

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if (workflowExecutionGraph.isAllTaskExecutionChainSuccess()
        || workflowExecutionGraph.isAllTaskExecutionChainFailed()
        || workflowExecutionGraph.isAllTaskExecutionChainKill()) {
    emitWorkflowFinishedEventIfApplicable(workflowExecution);
}

Try / catch

try {
    emitWorkflowFinishedEventIfApplicable(workflowExecution);
} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
    log.error("Workflow {} cannot finish from stop: {}", workflowExecution.getName(), e.getMessage());
    // re-issue kill for chains not in KILL state
}

Prevention

Verify workers ACK kill requests so chains reach KILL state
Keep workers reachable; failover can leave chains in DISPATCH
Avoid racing stop with pause/complete on the same execution
Re-issue stop (kill) if the workflow stays in READY_STOP

When it happens

Trigger: onStartEvent -> emitWorkflowFinishedEventIfApplicable while workflow state is READY_STOP and not all task chains are success, with at least one chain in a state other than failed or kill (e.g. still running after the stop request, in dispatch, or paused).

Common situations: A stop command raced with task completion or with a pause command; workers failed to ACK the kill so chains never reached KILL; failover left chains in DISPATCH; custom event handling bypassing normal stop flow.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/dolphinscheduler@02eac45a1b (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c49f192691d2a3e1. Report an issue: GitHub.