flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiObjectNotFoundException

execution ${processInstanceId} doesn't exist

Error message

execution ${processInstanceId} doesn't exist

What it means

AddCommentCmd.execute validates an optional processInstanceId by looking up the execution and throws ActivitiObjectNotFoundException when no execution with that id exists. A comment can reference a process instance, but the referenced instance must exist at comment time.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/cmd/AddCommentCmd.java:72

        // Validate task
        if (taskId != null) {
            TaskEntity task = commandContext.getTaskEntityManager().findTaskById(taskId);

            if (task == null) {
                throw new ActivitiObjectNotFoundException("Cannot find task with id " + taskId, Task.class);
            }

            if (task.isSuspended()) {
                throw new ActivitiException(getSuspendedTaskException());
            }
        }

        if (processInstanceId != null) {
            ExecutionEntity execution = commandContext.getExecutionEntityManager().findExecutionById(processInstanceId);

            if (execution == null) {
                throw new ActivitiObjectNotFoundException("execution " + processInstanceId + " doesn't exist", Execution.class);
            }

            if (execution.isSuspended()) {
                throw new ActivitiException(getSuspendedExceptionMessage());
            }
        }

        String userId = Authentication.getAuthenticatedUserId();
        CommentEntity comment = new CommentEntity();
        comment.setUserId(userId);
        comment.setType((type == null) ? CommentEntity.TYPE_COMMENT : type);
        comment.setTime(commandContext.getProcessEngineConfiguration().getClock().getCurrentTime());
        comment.setTaskId(taskId);
        comment.setProcessInstanceId(processInstanceId);
        comment.setAction(Event.ACTION_ADD_COMMENT);

        String eventMessage = message.replaceAll("\\s+", " ");
        if (eventMessage.length() > 163) {

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Check existence first: runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(pid).count() > 0.
2. Use the runtime ProcessInstance.getId(), not the business key.
3. If the instance is finished, add the comment to the related historical data via HistoryService instead of the runtime comment API.
4. Confirm arguments are not swapped: addComment(taskId, processInstanceId, message).

Example fix

// before
taskService.addComment(null, instanceId, "note");
// after
if (runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(instanceId).count() > 0) {
    taskService.addComment(null, instanceId, "note");
}

boolean exists = runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery()
    .processInstanceId(processInstanceId).count() > 0;
if (!exists) { throw new IllegalStateException("Process instance " + processInstanceId + " not running"); }

try {
    taskService.addComment(null, processInstanceId, message);
} catch (ActivitiObjectNotFoundException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().startsWith("execution ")) {
        logger.warn("Instance {} finished; store comment via history", processInstanceId);
    } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling TaskService.addComment(taskId, processInstanceId, message) or addComment(null, processInstanceId, message) with a processInstanceId that does not exist, already ended, or is mistyped.

Common situations: Commenting against a completed instance whose runtime execution row is gone (use history instead); id taken from a business key rather than the runtime id; environment/database mismatch.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Not found" and "does not exist" errors: why "Task not found", "No such folder", and "Can't find" fire when a lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 14 libraries.

Related errors

• execution {processInstanceId} doesn't exist
• Cannot find processInstance for id '${executionId}'.
• Cannot find task with id ${taskId}
• Cannot find process definition with id
• The process instance with id '{processInstanceId}' could not

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/61c84adc0262e9da. Report an issue: GitHub.