flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableException

bytes array is null

Error message

bytes array is null

What it means

Flowable's AppDeploymentBuilder.addBytes() throws this FlowableException when the byte[] argument is null. A resource must carry non-null byte content; the builder validates this before creating the AppResourceEntity.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-app-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/app/engine/impl/repository/AppDeploymentBuilderImpl.java:102

    }

    @Override
    public AppDeploymentBuilder addString(String resourceName, String text) {
        if (text == null) {
            throw new FlowableException("text is null");
        }

        AppResourceEntity resource = resourceEntityManager.create();
        resource.setName(resourceName);
        resource.setBytes(text.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
        deployment.addResource(resource);
        return this;
    }
    
    @Override
    public AppDeploymentBuilder addBytes(String resourceName, byte[] bytes) {
        if (bytes == null) {
            throw new FlowableException("bytes array is null");
        }

        AppResourceEntity resource = resourceEntityManager.create();
        resource.setName(resourceName);
        resource.setBytes(bytes);
        deployment.addResource(resource);
        return this;
    }
    
    @Override
    public AppDeploymentBuilder addZipInputStream(ZipInputStream zipInputStream) {
        try {
            ZipEntry entry = zipInputStream.getNextEntry();
            while (entry != null) {
                if (!entry.isDirectory()) {
                    String entryName = entry.getName();
                    byte[] bytes = IoUtil.readInputStream(zipInputStream, entryName);
                    AppResourceEntity resource = resourceEntityManager.create();

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Check bytes != null before calling addBytes.
2. Fix the upstream read so it throws on failure rather than returning null.
3. Use Files.readAllBytes(path) which throws NoSuchFileException on missing files.
4. Catch FlowableException and report the failing resourceName.

Example fix

// before
builder.addBytes("my-app.bar", readFileQuietly(path)); // may return null
// after
byte[] bytes = java.nio.file.Files.readAllBytes(path); // throws on missing
builder.addBytes("my-app.bar", bytes);

if (bytes == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("bytes must not be null for resource " + resourceName); }

boolean hasBytes(byte[] b) { return b != null && b.length > 0; }

try {
    builder.addBytes(resourceName, bytes);
} catch (org.flowable.common.engine.api.FlowableException e) {
    logger.error("addBytes failed for {}: {}", resourceName, e.getMessage());
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling addBytes(resourceName, null) — e.g. reading file bytes with a method that returned null on failure instead of throwing.

Common situations: File-reading helper that silently returns null when the file is missing, or a downloaded artifact stored in a null variable, then handed to addBytes.

Related errors

• text is null
• deploymentId is null
• text is null
• bytes is null
• id is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4824887b3498fc66. Report an issue: GitHub.