flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

Cannot find case instance with id

Error message

Cannot find case instance with id 

What it means

GetEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstanceCmd loads the case instance before reading its CHILD entity links. If no case instance exists for the given id it throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException with the id in the message, typed to CaseInstanceEntity.class.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/cmd/GetEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstanceCmd.java:48

 * @author Tijs Rademakers
 */
public class GetEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstanceCmd implements Command<List<EntityLink>>, Serializable {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    protected String caseInstanceId;

    public GetEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstanceCmd(String caseInstanceId) {
        this.caseInstanceId = caseInstanceId;
    }

    @Override
    public List<EntityLink> execute(CommandContext commandContext) {
        CmmnEngineConfiguration cmmnEngineConfiguration = CommandContextUtil.getCmmnEngineConfiguration(commandContext);
        CaseInstance caseInstance = cmmnEngineConfiguration.getCaseInstanceEntityManager().findById(caseInstanceId);

        if (caseInstance == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Cannot find case instance with id " + caseInstanceId, CaseInstanceEntity.class);
        }

        return cmmnEngineConfiguration.getEntityLinkServiceConfiguration().getEntityLinkService()
                .findEntityLinksByScopeIdAndType(caseInstanceId, ScopeTypes.CMMN, EntityLinkType.CHILD);
    }

}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Verify the case instance exists via cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(id).singleResult() first
2. Use the correct id type (case instance id, not BPMN process instance id)
3. Check history tables/service if the case has already ended

Example fix

// before
List<EntityLink> links = cmmnRuntimeService.getEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstance(caseInstanceId);
// after
if (cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(caseInstanceId).count() > 0) {
    List<EntityLink> links = cmmnRuntimeService.getEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstance(caseInstanceId);
}

boolean exists = cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(caseInstanceId).count() > 0;

try { return cmmnRuntimeService.getEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstance(id); } catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) { return Collections.emptyList(); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling cmmnRuntimeService.getEntityLinkChildrenForCaseInstance(caseInstanceId) with an id of a non-existent, deleted, or completed-and-removed case instance.

Common situations: Using a process instance (BPMN) id instead of a case instance id; case finished and history cleanup removed it; stale reference after rollback of the case start.

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

• Cannot find case instance with id
• Cannot find case instance with id
• No case instance found for id ${caseInstanceEntityId}
• Cannot find case instance for id ${caseInstanceId}
• Cannot find case instance with id

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f05ca8cff0a0cb8e. Report an issue: GitHub.