flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiException

exception during timer execution: ${message}

Error message

exception during timer execution: ${message}

What it means

Generic wrapper in TimerCatchIntermediateEventJobHandler.execute: any unexpected Exception while firing the timer (signal/execution continuation, event dispatch, etc.) is logged and rethrown as an ActivitiException whose message is the original exception's message, keeping the cause chain. It is a catch-all so timer failures surface with the underlying reason.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/jobexecutor/TimerCatchIntermediateEventJobHandler.java:69

                commandContext.getEventDispatcher().dispatchEvent(
                        ActivitiEventBuilder.createEntityEvent(FlowableEngineEventType.TIMER_FIRED, job),
                        EngineConfigurationConstants.KEY_PROCESS_ENGINE_CONFIG);
            }

            if (!execution.getActivity().getId().equals(intermediateEventActivity.getId())) {
                execution.setActivity(intermediateEventActivity);
            }
            execution.signal(null, null);
        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
            LogMDC.putMDCExecution(execution);
            LOGGER.error("exception during timer execution", e);
            LogMDC.clear();
            throw e;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            LogMDC.putMDCExecution(execution);
            LOGGER.error("exception during timer execution", e);
            LogMDC.clear();
            throw new ActivitiException("exception during timer execution: " + e.getMessage(), e);
        }
    }

}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Read the cause of the ActivitiException (getCause()) to find the real failure
2. Check for concurrent modification: the process instance may have completed/moved past the timer before it fired
3. Fix the underlying exception reported in the wrapped cause (dispatcher config, delegate, DB)
4. Enable logging around TIMER_FIRED events to reproduce

Example fix

try {
    managementService.executeJob(jobId);
} catch (FlowableException e) {
    log.error("timer failed", e.getCause()); // real reason is the cause
}

try {
    managementService.executeJob(jobId);
} catch (FlowableException e) {
    Throwable root = e; while (root.getCause() != null) root = root.getCause();
    log.error("Timer execution failed, root cause: ", root); // act on the wrapped cause
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any runtime exception thrown inside timer execution after the activity lookup succeeded: e.g. failures signaling the execution, event dispatcher errors, or delegate errors triggered during continuation.

Common situations: Execution already ended when timer fires (concurrent completion); event dispatcher misconfigured; downstream service task behind the timer fails; DB constraint issue while persisting the continuation.

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

• Error reading json value ${configuration}
• Error while firing timer: intermediate event activity ${nest
• Error converting timer expression
• Timer expression '${timerEventListener.getTimerExpression()}
• Could not find a job with id ''.

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bab3171ea1962865. Report an issue: GitHub.