flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Deployment ids is null

Error message

Deployment ids is null

What it means

AppDeploymentQueryImpl.deploymentIds() throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the List<String> argument is null. The in-list filter needs a real list; null is rejected at call time instead of producing broken SQL.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-app-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/app/engine/impl/repository/AppDeploymentQueryImpl.java:69

    }

    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl(CommandExecutor commandExecutor) {
        super(commandExecutor);
    }

    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentId(String deploymentId) {
        if (deploymentId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Deployment id is null");
        }
        this.deploymentId = deploymentId;
        return this;
    }
    
    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentIds(List<String> deploymentIds) {
        if (deploymentIds == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Deployment ids is null");
        }
        this.deploymentIds = deploymentIds;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentName(String deploymentName) {
        if (deploymentName == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("deploymentName is null");
        }
        this.name = deploymentName;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentNameLike(String nameLike) {
        if (nameLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("deploymentNameLike is null");

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Initialize the list (Collections.emptyList()) so it is never null.
2. Guard with if (ids != null) before calling deploymentIds.
3. If empty means 'no filter', skip the deploymentIds call when ids.isEmpty().
4. Catch FlowableIllegalArgumentException and convert to a validation error response.

Example fix

// before
query.deploymentIds(ids); // ids may be null
// after
List<String> ids = (idsOrNull == null) ? java.util.Collections.emptyList() : idsOrNull;
if (!ids.isEmpty()) query.deploymentIds(ids);

List<String> safeIds = deploymentIds == null ? java.util.Collections.emptyList() : deploymentIds;

boolean isNonEmptyList(List<String> l) { return l != null && !l.isEmpty(); }

try {
    query.deploymentIds(ids);
} catch (org.flowable.common.engine.api.FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    throw new javax.ws.rs.BadRequestException("deploymentIds must not be null", e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling deploymentIds(null) with a list variable never initialized, or a service method returning null instead of an empty list.

Common situations: Deserialization of an optional query parameter that yields null, or collecting deployment ids from a loop that never ran and leaving the list null.

Related errors

• Deployment id is null
• deploymentName is null
• deploymentNameLike is null
• deploymentCategory is null
• deploymentCategoryExclude is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c85995411dd0f8e0. Report an issue: GitHub.