flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiException

Default sequence flow

Error message

Default sequence flow '${defaultSequenceFlow}' could not be not found

What it means

InclusiveGatewayActivityBehavior.execute() evaluates all outgoing conditions, activates the matching ones, and falls back to the gateway's default flow when none match. If a default flow id is configured but no outgoing sequence flow with that id exists, it throws ActivitiException since the fallback route cannot be resolved.

Solutions

  1. Add or rename a sequence flow so its id matches the gateway's default attribute
  2. Remove the default attribute if no fallback is intended and ensure at least one condition always matches
  3. Run the process model validator at deployment to catch dangling default flow references

Example fix

// before
<inclusiveGateway id="gw" default="oldFlow"/>
// after
<inclusiveGateway id="gw" default="defaultFlow"/>
<sequenceFlow id="defaultFlow" sourceRef="gw" targetRef="fallbackTask"/>
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

boolean defaultResolvable = gatewayFlows.stream()
    .anyMatch(f -> f.getId().equals(defaultFlowId));
if (!defaultResolvable) throw new IllegalStateException("inclusive gateway default flow missing: " + defaultFlowId);

Try / catch

try { /* execute process */ }
catch (ActivitiException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("Default sequence flow")) { fixGatewayModel(); } throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: An inclusive gateway has default='flowX' but no sequence flow with id 'flowX' leaves the gateway, and no outgoing condition evaluates true.

Common situations: BPMN refactors renaming/deleting sequence flows while the default attribute still points to the old id; hand-edited XML or generated models with dangling references.

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/5487d572bc0fdc74. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/bpmn/behavior/InclusiveGatewayActivityBehavior.java:88

                            transitionsToTake.add(outgoingTransition);
                        }
                    }
                } else if (SkipExpressionUtil.shouldSkipFlowElement(activityExecution, skipExpression)) {
                    transitionsToTake.add(outgoingTransition);
                }
            }

            if (!transitionsToTake.isEmpty()) {
                activityExecution.takeAll(transitionsToTake, joinedExecutions);

            } else {

                if (defaultSequenceFlow != null) {
                    PvmTransition defaultTransition = activityExecution.getActivity().findOutgoingTransition(defaultSequenceFlow);
                    if (defaultTransition != null) {
                        activityExecution.take(defaultTransition);
                    } else {
                        throw new ActivitiException("Default sequence flow '"
                                + defaultSequenceFlow + "' could not be not found");
                    }
                } else {
                    // No sequence flow could be found, not even a default one
                    throw new ActivitiException(
                            "No outgoing sequence flow of the inclusive gateway '"
                                    + activityExecution.getActivity().getId()
                                    + "' could be selected for continuing the process");
                }
            }

        } else {
            if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
                LOGGER.debug("Inclusive gateway '{}' does not activate", activity.getId());
            }
        }
    }

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