flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableException

Error while propagating error-event for " + execution

Error message

Error while propagating error-event for " + execution

What it means

This FlowableException wraps any exception thrown by ErrorPropagation.propagateError(errorCode, execution). It means the error event was resolved to an execution, but the actual propagation — finding a matching error boundary/catch handler in the BPMN model — failed while walking/acting on the model, e.g. due to a model inconsistency or an exception in handler lookup.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/engine/impl/bpmn/helper/ErrorThrowingEventListener.java:64

                compatibilityHandler.throwErrorEvent(event);
                return;
            }

            ExecutionEntity execution = null;

            if (engineEvent.getExecutionId() != null) {
                // Get the execution based on the event's execution ID instead
                execution = CommandContextUtil.getExecutionEntityManager().findById(engineEvent.getExecutionId());
            }

            if (execution == null) {
                throw new FlowableException("No execution context active and event (" + event + ") is not related to an execution. No compensation event can be thrown.");
            }

            try {
                ErrorPropagation.propagateError(errorCode, execution);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new FlowableException("Error while propagating error-event for " + execution, e);
            }
        }
    }

    public void setErrorCode(String errorCode) {
        this.errorCode = errorCode;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isFailOnException() {
        return true;
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

  1. Inspect the wrapped cause (e.getCause()) — the real failure is inside ErrorPropagation, not the listener.
  2. Validate the BPMN model: ensure every errorEventDefinition's errorRef matches a declared <error> element and boundary/subprocess error handlers are correctly attached.
  3. Confirm the errorCode set on the listener matches an existing error boundary event / error start event subscription.
  4. Simplify: throw the BPMN error from a service task's delegateExecution or via runtimeService instead of a global listener, which gives clearer propagation semantics.
  5. If it persists with a valid model, check the Flowable version for known error-propagation bugs and upgrade.

Example fix

// before
throw new FlowableException("Error while propagating error-event for " + execution, e); // cause ignored at call site

// after
catch (Exception e) {
    logger.error("error propagation failed for execution {}", execution.getId(), e.getCause());
    throw new FlowableException("Error while propagating error-event for " + execution, e);
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
    errorThrowingEventListener.onEvent(engineEvent);
} catch (FlowableException e) {
    logger.error("error propagation failed", e.getCause() != null ? e.getCause() : e);
    // fall back: mark execution/compensation as pending for manual handling
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: ErrorThrowingEventListener.onEvent calls ErrorPropagation.propagateError and that method throws (e.g. BpmnModel inconsistency, no error handler found where the propagation logic assumes one, or a downstream FlowableException during catch-event handling).

Common situations: BPMN XML with an error event definition whose referenced error is missing/malformed; boundary events on subprocesses with mismatched error refs; custom ErrorThrowingEventListener wired via flowable:event-listener without a matching catch; bugs after engine version upgrades in error-handling code paths.

Understand the failure class

Background: "This is a bug, please report it": internal invariant violations, unreachable panics, and SNH errors explained — this error's family across 47 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bc1d742c3578d306. Report an issue: GitHub.