What causes "Workflow: %s is non-restartable" in conductor-oss/conductor?

Set WorkflowDef.restartable=true if completed workflows should be restartable.

conductor-oss/conductor · error · NotFoundException

Workflow: %s is non-restartable

Error message

Workflow: %s is non-restartable

What it means

restart checks WorkflowDef.isRestartable(); if it is false AND the workflow status is COMPLETED, the engine throws a NotFoundException with the 'non-restartable' message. The intent is to allow restarting failed/timed-out workflows even when restart is disabled, but to block restarting successfully completed workflows when the definition opts out.

Source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/com/netflix/conductor/core/execution/WorkflowExecutorOps.java:236

                                    () ->
                                            metadataDAO
                                                    .getWorkflowDef(
                                                            workflow.getWorkflowName(),
                                                            workflow.getWorkflowVersion())
                                                    .orElseThrow(
                                                            () ->
                                                                    new NotFoundException(
                                                                            "Unable to find definition for %s",
                                                                            workflowId)));
        }

        if (!workflowDef.isRestartable()
                && workflow.getStatus()
                        .equals(
                                WorkflowModel.Status
                                        .COMPLETED)) { // Can only restart non-completed workflows
            // when the configuration is set to false
            throw new NotFoundException("Workflow: %s is non-restartable", workflow);
        }

        // Reset the workflow in the primary datastore and remove from indexer; then
        // re-create it
        executionDAOFacade.resetWorkflow(workflowId);

        workflow.getTasks().clear();
        workflow.setReasonForIncompletion(null);
        workflow.setFailedTaskId(null);
        workflow.setCreateTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
        workflow.setEndTime(0);
        workflow.setLastRetriedTime(0);
        // Change the status to running
        workflow.setStatus(WorkflowModel.Status.RUNNING);
        workflow.setOutput(null);
        workflow.setExternalOutputPayloadStoragePath(null);

        try {

View on GitHub (pinned to cf7c3e4a8a)

Solutions

Set WorkflowDef.restartable=true if completed workflows should be restartable.
If the workflow is in a non-COMPLETED terminal state, restart is allowed even with restartable=false — terminate/fail it first if appropriate.
Treat this as a policy decision, not a bug; confirm with the workflow owner before flipping the flag.

Example fix

// before
{ "name": "order", "restartable": false }

// after
{ "name": "order", "restartable": true }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

WorkflowDef def = metadataDAO.getWorkflowDef(name, version).orElseThrow();
WorkflowModel wf = executionDAOFacade.getWorkflowModel(workflowId, true);
if (!def.isRestartable() && wf.getStatus() == WorkflowModel.Status.COMPLETED) {
    // restart blocked by policy; either flip the flag or fail it first
    throw new IllegalStateException("workflow is non-restartable by policy");
}
workflowExecutor.restart(workflowId, useLatestDefinitions);

Try / catch

try {
    workflowExecutor.restart(workflowId, useLatestDefinitions);
} catch (NotFoundException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("non-restartable")) {
        // policy decision: flip restartable=true or fail the workflow first
    }
}

Prevention

Set WorkflowDef.restartable=true if completed runs must be restartable.
Note: non-COMPLETED terminal workflows remain restartable even with restartable=false.
Treat the flag as an audit-trail policy, confirm before changing it.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling restart on a COMPLETED workflow whose WorkflowDef has restartable=false.

Common situations: A workflow definition intentionally marked non-restartable to protect audit trail of successful runs; trying to restart a completed workflow that the owner configured as non-restartable.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of conductor-oss/conductor@cf7c3e4a8a (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c70cd32412f0c97b. Report an issue: GitHub.