flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

Could not find the requested identity link.

Error message

Could not find the requested identity link.

What it means

After validating the family/identity/type arguments, the resource scans the task's identity links for one matching user/group and type. If no such link exists, Flowable throws FlowableableObjectNotFoundException carrying IdentityLink.class, mapping to HTTP 404.

Solutions

1. List existing links (GET /cmmn-runtime/tasks/{taskId}/identitylinks/{family}) to confirm the exact identityId and type before addressing one
2. Correct the identityId or type spelling
3. Handle 404 gracefully in the client (idempotent delete) instead of assuming the link always exists

Example fix

// before
restTemplate.delete("/cmmn-runtime/tasks/123/identitylinks/users/jonh/candidate"); // typo, 404
// after
List<RestIdentityLink> links = restTemplate.getForObject("/cmmn-runtime/tasks/123/identitylinks/users", List.class);
if (containsLink(links, "john", "candidate")) {
    restTemplate.delete("/cmmn-runtime/tasks/123/identitylinks/users/john/candidate");
}

const links = await get(`/cmmn-runtime/tasks/${taskId}/identitylinks/${family}`);
const exists = links.some(l =>
  (family === 'users' ? l.user : l.group) === identityId && l.type === type);

try {
  await del(`/cmmn-runtime/tasks/${taskId}/identitylinks/${family}/${identityId}/${type}`);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.status === 404) {
    return; // already gone: treat delete as idempotent
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: GET or DELETE on /cmmn-runtime/tasks/{taskId}/identitylinks/{family}/{identityId}/{type} where the task exists but no link matches the given identityId+type combination.

Common situations: Stale client cache after another actor removed the link; typo in the user/group name or type; attempting to delete a link that was already removed; wrong task id.

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 the requested identity link.
• A group or a user is required to create an identity link.
• ${aonfe.getMessage()}
• Batch part with id ' ' does not have a batch part document.
• Batch with id ' ' does not have a batch document.

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b426f4a93a8e9ddf. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-rest/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/rest/service/api/runtime/task/TaskIdentityLinkResource.java:125

    protected IdentityLink getIdentityLink(String family, String identityId, String type, String taskId) {
        boolean isUser = family.equals(CmmnRestUrls.SEGMENT_IDENTITYLINKS_FAMILY_USERS);

        // Perhaps it would be better to offer getting a single identitylink
        // from the API
        List<IdentityLink> allLinks = taskService.getIdentityLinksForTask(taskId);
        for (IdentityLink link : allLinks) {
            boolean rightIdentity = false;
            if (isUser) {
                rightIdentity = identityId.equals(link.getUserId());
            } else {
                rightIdentity = identityId.equals(link.getGroupId());
            }

            if (rightIdentity && link.getType().equals(type)) {
                return link;
            }
        }
        throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Could not find the requested identity link.", IdentityLink.class);
    }
}

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