flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

deploymentCategoryExclude is null

Error message

deploymentCategoryExclude is null

What it means

AppDeploymentQueryImpl.deploymentCategoryNotEquals() throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the exclusion category argument is null (message: 'deploymentCategoryExclude is null'). A null exclusion is meaningless, so the fluent API rejects it.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-app-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/app/engine/impl/repository/AppDeploymentQueryImpl.java:105

            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("deploymentNameLike is null");
        }
        this.nameLike = nameLike;
        return this;
    }

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

    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentCategoryNotEquals(String deploymentCategoryNotEquals) {
        if (deploymentCategoryNotEquals == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("deploymentCategoryExclude is null");
        }
        this.categoryNotEquals = deploymentCategoryNotEquals;
        return this;
    }
    
    @Override
    public AppDeploymentQueryImpl deploymentKey(String deploymentKey) {
        if (deploymentKey == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("deploymentKey is null");
        }
        this.key = deploymentKey;
        return this;
    }

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

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Only call deploymentCategoryNotEquals when the value is non-null.
2. Default the exclusion to a sentinel you never deploy (e.g. "__none__") if you always want the call, though skipping is cleaner.
3. Audit query-builder helpers so each optional filter is guarded consistently.
4. Catch FlowableIllegalArgumentException and convert to a client error.

Example fix

// before
query.deploymentCategoryNotEquals(excludeCategory); // may be null
// after
if (excludeCategory != null) query.deploymentCategoryNotEquals(excludeCategory);

if (excludeCategory != null) query.deploymentCategoryNotEquals(excludeCategory);

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

When it happens

Trigger: Calling deploymentCategoryNotEquals(null) — e.g. an 'exclude category' UI option left unselected and bound to null.

Common situations: Optional exclusion filter in query-assembler code called unconditionally; refactors that renamed a constant to null/default.

Related errors

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

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e307ac8deaab4eca. Report an issue: GitHub.