flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Could not find event model with key '${eventDefinitionKey}'.

Error message

Could not find event model with key '${eventDefinitionKey}'.

What it means

FlowableIllegalArgumentException thrown by getEventModel when the event repository service cannot find an event model for the given eventDefinitionKey (and tenantId). A case start-event subscription requires the referenced event model to be deployed in the event registry.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/cmd/AbstractCaseStartEventSubscriptionCmd.java:135

            .caseDefinitionId(caseDefinitionId)
            .singleResult();

        if (caseDefinition == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("No deployed case definition found for id '" + caseDefinitionId + "'.");
        }
        return caseDefinition;
    }

    protected Case getCase(String caseDefinitionId, CommandContext commandContext) {
        CmmnRepositoryService repositoryService = CommandContextUtil.getCmmnEngineConfiguration(commandContext).getCmmnRepositoryService();
        CmmnModel cmmnModel = repositoryService.getCmmnModel(caseDefinitionId);
        return cmmnModel.getPrimaryCase();
    }

    protected EventModel getEventModel(String eventDefinitionKey, String tenantId, CommandContext commandContext) {
        EventModel eventModel = CommandContextUtil.getEventRepositoryService(commandContext).getEventModelByKey(eventDefinitionKey, tenantId);
        if (eventModel == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Could not find event model with key '" + eventDefinitionKey + "'.");
        }
        return eventModel;
    }

    protected String getStartCorrelationConfiguration(String caseDefinitionId, CommandContext commandContext) {
        CmmnModel cmmnModel = CommandContextUtil.getCmmnEngineConfiguration(commandContext).getCmmnRepositoryService().getCmmnModel(caseDefinitionId);
        if (cmmnModel != null) {
            List<ExtensionElement> correlationCfgExtensions = cmmnModel.getPrimaryCase().getExtensionElements()
                .getOrDefault(CmmnXmlConstants.START_EVENT_CORRELATION_CONFIGURATION, Collections.emptyList());
            if (!correlationCfgExtensions.isEmpty()) {
                return correlationCfgExtensions.get(0).getElementText();
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    protected EventSubscriptionService getEventSubscriptionService(CommandContext commandContext) {
        return CommandContextUtil.getCmmnEngineConfiguration(commandContext).getEventSubscriptionServiceConfiguration().getEventSubscriptionService();

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Deploy the event model (.event resource) containing the referenced key via the event registry repository service.
2. Fix the eventDefinitionKey in the CMMN model so it matches the deployed event model key.
3. Verify tenant consistency: query getEventModelByKey with the same tenantId used at deployment.

Example fix

// before (case model references)
<startEvent id="start" flowable:eventKey="orderRecieved" /> // typo
// after
<startEvent id="start" flowable:eventKey="orderReceived" />

EventModel em = eventRepositoryService.getEventModelByKey(eventKey, tenantId);
if (em == null) throw new IllegalStateException("deploy event model for key " + eventKey);

try { subscribe(caseKey, eventKey); }
catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("Could not find event model")) { deployEventResources(); throw e; } }

When it happens

Trigger: AbstractCaseStartEventSubscriptionCmd.getEventModel(key, tenantId, ctx) where getEventModelByKey returns null — the event definition key in the case model's start-event mapping has no matching deployed event model.

Common situations: Event registry artifacts (.event JSON) not deployed alongside the CMMN model; event key typo in the case diagram's start event; event model deployed under a different tenantId than requested.

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

• Could not resolve key from expression:
• No event model found for event key ${key} for ${planItemInst
• Can only use a collection of String elements for referencing
• No channel keys configured for ${planItemInstanceEntity}
• The case definition with id

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/719015a094d7f9cf. Report an issue: GitHub.