flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

Could not find a job with id

Error message

Could not find a job with id '${jobId}'.

What it means

The REST endpoint DELETE /management/jobs/{jobId} catches FlowableObjectNotFoundException from managementService.deleteJob and re-throws it with a consistent message: no job with the given id exists in the runtime job table (ACT_RU_JOB). Flowable throws this because a delete can only target an existing job entity.

Solutions

1. Confirm the job id by querying GET /management/jobs/{jobId} before deleting
2. If the job is a timer, suspended, deadletter, or history job, use the matching endpoint (/management/timer-jobs/..., /management/suspended-jobs/..., etc.)
3. Catch FlowableObjectNotFoundException / handle 404 and treat deletion as idempotent no-op

Example fix

// before
restTemplate.delete("/management/jobs/" + someTimerJobId); // 404
// after
restTemplate.delete("/management/timer-jobs/" + someTimerJobId);

Job job = managementService.createJobQuery().jobId(jobId).singleResult();
if (job == null) { /* skip or use correct endpoint */ }

try {
    managementService.deleteJob(jobId);
} catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) {
    // already deleted or wrong table
}

When it happens

Trigger: DELETE /management/jobs/{jobId} with a jobId that does not exist, was already deleted, or exists only in another table (timer/suspended/deadletter/history jobs are separate tables — a timer job id passed here also fails).

Common situations: Using an id from the wrong job table (e.g. timer job id against the plain jobs endpoint); retrying a delete after the job already executed and was removed; stale ids after engine restart or cleanup.

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

• Could not find a batch with id
• Could not find a job with id ''.
• A request body was expected when bulk updating tasks.
• A request body was expected when executing the form submit.
• Attachment name is required.

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1942c6d9e2702ca6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-rest/src/main/java/org/flowable/rest/service/api/management/JobResource.java:140

    @ApiOperation(value = "Delete a job", tags = { "Jobs" }, code = 204)
    @ApiResponses(value = {
            @ApiResponse(code = 204, message = "Indicates the job was found and has been deleted. Response-body is intentionally empty."),
            @ApiResponse(code = 404, message = "Indicates the requested job was not found.")
    })
    @DeleteMapping("/management/jobs/{jobId}")
    @ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT)
    public void deleteJob(@ApiParam(name = "jobId") @PathVariable String jobId) {
        Job job = getJobById(jobId);
        if (restApiInterceptor != null) {
            restApiInterceptor.deleteJob(job);
        }
        
        try {
            managementService.deleteJob(jobId);
        } catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException aonfe) {
            // Re-throw to have consistent error-messaging across REST-api
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Could not find a job with id '" + jobId + "'.", Job.class);
        }
    }

    @ApiOperation(value = "Delete a timer job", tags = { "Jobs" }, code = 204)
    @ApiResponses(value = {
            @ApiResponse(code = 204, message = "Indicates the job was found and has been deleted. Response-body is intentionally empty."),
            @ApiResponse(code = 404, message = "Indicates the requested job was not found.")
    })
    @DeleteMapping("/management/timer-jobs/{jobId}")
    @ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT)
    public void deleteTimerJob(@ApiParam(name = "jobId") @PathVariable String jobId) {
        Job job = getTimerJobById(jobId);
        if (restApiInterceptor != null) {
            restApiInterceptor.deleteJob(job);
        }
        
        try {
            managementService.deleteTimerJob(jobId);

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)