flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

Cannot use taskIds together with excludeTaskVariables

Error message

Cannot use taskIds together with excludeTaskVariables

What it means

Like taskId(), taskIds() conflicts with a previously set excludeTaskRelated flag: filtering by a set of tasks and excluding task-related variables cannot both apply. The engine throws ActivitiIllegalArgumentException when taskIds() is called after excludeTaskVariables().

Solutions

1. Drop excludeTaskVariables() if you mean to filter by the given task ID set.
2. Reorder or conditionally apply filters so both options never coexist.
3. Use separate query objects for the 'exclude' and 'by-task-ids' cases.

Example fix

// before
query.excludeTaskVariables().taskIds(ids);
// after
query.taskIds(ids); // choose one mode, not both

boolean excludeTask = cfg.getBoolean("excludeTaskVariables", false);
if (excludeTask) {
    query.excludeTaskVariables();
} else if (taskIds != null && !taskIds.isEmpty()) {
    query.taskIds(taskIds);
}

try { query.taskIds(ids); } catch (org.activiti.engine.ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) { throw new IllegalStateException("taskIds cannot be combined with excludeTaskVariables", e); }

When it happens

Trigger: historyService.createHistoricVariableInstanceQuery().excludeTaskVariables().taskIds(set) throws immediately.

Common situations: Dynamic query builders appending filters from a config/params map in fixed order, hitting the conflict whenever 'excludeTaskVariables' precedes 'taskIds'; shared/reused query instances.

Related errors

• Cannot use taskId together with excludeTaskVariables
• Business key is null
• Execution id is null
• id is null
• ids are null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cf797468cbd8a7a8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/HistoricVariableInstanceQueryImpl.java:124

            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("taskId is null");
        }
        if (excludeTaskRelated) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot use taskId together with excludeTaskVariables");
        }
        this.taskId = taskId;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public HistoricVariableInstanceQueryImpl taskIds(Set<String> taskIds) {
        if (taskIds == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("taskIds is null");
        }
        if (taskIds.isEmpty()) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Set of taskIds is empty");
        }
        if (excludeTaskRelated) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot use taskIds together with excludeTaskVariables");
        }
        this.taskIds = taskIds;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public HistoricVariableInstanceQuery excludeTaskVariables() {
        if (taskId != null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot use taskId together with excludeTaskVariables");
        }
        if (taskIds != null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Cannot use taskIds together with excludeTaskVariables");
        }
        excludeTaskRelated = true;
        return this;
    }

    @Override

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