flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

Cannot combine onlyTimers() with onlyMessages() in the same…

Error message

Cannot combine onlyTimers() with onlyMessages() in the same query

What it means

JobQueryImpl.timers() restricts the query to timer jobs, but onlyMessages() (reached via messages()) restricts it to message jobs; the two are mutually exclusive. The engine throws ActivitiIllegalArgumentException immediately when timers() is called after messages() was already set, because the resulting SQL filter would match no job type consistently.

Solutions

1. Remove one of the two calls; pick onlyTimers() or onlyMessages() depending on which job type you need
2. If the user wants both job types, drop both filters and query all jobs (or issue two separate queries)
3. Validate input options before building the query and reject conflicting combinations early

Example fix

// before
JobQuery query = managementService.createJobQuery().timers().messages();

// after
JobQuery query = managementService.createJobQuery();
if (onlyTimers) {
    query = query.timers();
} else if (onlyMessages) {
    query = query.messages();
}

if (onlyTimers && onlyMessages) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot filter for both timer and message jobs in one query");

try {
    query = query.timers();
} catch (ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (!e.getMessage().contains("onlyTimers")) throw e;
    // handle conflicting filter combination, e.g. split into two queries
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling managementService.createJobQuery().messages().timers() (or with the calls in either order) before executing the query.

Common situations: Dynamically composing query filters from user-supplied options where both 'timer' and 'message' booleans are true; copying query-building code that adds both filters 'for completeness'; UI search forms allowing both checkboxes to be checked.

Related errors

• callbackIds is null or empty
• categoryLike is null
• categoryNotEquals is null
• Could not find a deployment with id
• Could not find an app definition with id

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/66163b7e367c62d4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/JobQueryImpl.java:126

        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public JobQuery withRetriesLeft() {
        retriesLeft = true;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public JobQuery executable() {
        executable = true;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public JobQuery timers() {
        if (onlyMessages) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot combine onlyTimers() with onlyMessages() in the same query");
        }
        this.onlyTimers = true;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public JobQuery messages() {
        if (onlyTimers) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot combine onlyTimers() with onlyMessages() in the same query");
        }
        this.onlyMessages = true;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public JobQuery duedateHigherThan(Date date) {
        if (date == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Provided date is null");

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