flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

Could not find a resource with name

Error message

Could not find a resource with name '${resourceName}' in deployment '${deploymentId}'.

What it means

If the requested resourceName is not present in the given deployment (checked via repositoryService.getResourceAsStream returning null / resource list), FlowableObjectNotFoundException is thrown with the resource name and deployment id embedded. The deployment exists but does not contain a resource with that exact name.

Solutions

List actual resources with GET /repository/deployments/{deploymentId}/resources and copy the exact name.
Include the correct path prefix (e.g. 'bpmn/my-process.bpmn20.xml') exactly as listed.
Confirm the resource belongs to this deployment id, not another one.
Handle HTTP 404 by falling back to the resource listing endpoint.

Example fix

// before
GET /repository/deployments/2501/resourcedata/process.bpmn20.xml
// after
GET /repository/deployments/2501/resourcedata/bpmn/process.bpmn20.xml // full name from resources list

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const res = (await get(`/repository/deployments/${deploymentId}/resources`)).data;
const entry = res.data.find(r => r.url.endsWith('/' + encodeURIComponent(resourceName)) || r.id === resourceName);
if (!entry) throw new Error(`Resource ${resourceName} not in deployment ${deploymentId}`);

Try / catch

try { return await getResourceData(deploymentId, name); }
catch (e) { if (e.status === 404) return listResources(deploymentId); throw e; }

Prevention

Always look up the exact resource id/name from the deployment's resources endpoint first.
Remember resource names include folder prefixes (e.g. 'bpmn/').
Match names exactly, including case.

When it happens

Trigger: GET /repository/deployments/{deploymentId}/resourcedata/{resourceName} where the resource name doesn't match any entry in the deployment (wrong name, wrong path prefix like 'bpmn/', or resource belongs to a different deployment).

Common situations: Guessing resource names instead of listing them (names include folder prefixes); requesting a resource from a different deployment; case-sensitive mismatch on some databases.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/83aa92a5c55329fc. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-rest/src/main/java/org/flowable/rest/service/api/repository/BaseDeploymentResourceDataResource.java:78

        if (restApiInterceptor != null) {
            restApiInterceptor.accessDeploymentById(deployment);
        }

        List<String> resourceList = repositoryService.getDeploymentResourceNames(deploymentId);

        if (resourceList.contains(resourceName)) {
            String contentType = contentTypeResolver.resolveContentType(resourceName);
            response.setContentType(contentType);
            try (final InputStream resourceStream = repositoryService.getResourceAsStream(deploymentId, resourceName)) {
                return IOUtils.toByteArray(resourceStream);
                
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new FlowableException("Error converting resource stream", e);
            }
            
        } else {
            // Resource not found in deployment
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Could not find a resource with name '" + resourceName + "' in deployment '" + deploymentId + "'.", String.class);
        }
    }
}

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