flowable/flowable-engine · error · org.activiti.engine.ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

inputStream for resource

Error message

inputStream for resource '${resourceName}' is null

What it means

Thrown by DeploymentBuilderImpl.addInputStream when the provided InputStream argument is null. The deployment builder requires a non-null stream to read the resource bytes before adding it to the deployment. This is argument validation via ActivitiIllegalArgumentException, thrown before any deployment resource is created.

Solutions

1. Fix the source of the stream (correct classpath path, existing file) so it isn't null
2. Null-check the stream and throw a clear error naming the resource before calling addInputStream
3. Use addClasspathResource/addString for resources so a missing file fails with a clearer message
4. Log/verify the resource exists in the deployed artifact (JAR/WAR)

Example fix

// before
InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream("proc.bpmn");
repo.createDeployment().addInputStream("proc.bpmn", is).deploy(); // fails if is==null
// after
InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/processes/proc.bpmn");
if (is == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("processes/proc.bpmn missing on classpath");
repo.createDeployment().addClasspathResource("processes/proc.bpmn").deploy();

InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream(resourcePath);
if (is == null) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("resource not on classpath: " + resourcePath);
}
repositoryService.createDeployment().addInputStream(resourceName, is);

boolean resourceExists(String p) { return getClass().getResource(p) != null; }

try {
  deploymentBuilder.addInputStream(name, is).deploy();
} catch (ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
  // stream was null — fix resource resolution
}

When it happens

Trigger: repositoryService.createDeployment().addInputStream(name, stream) called with a null stream — e.g. getResourceAsStream returned null because the classpath resource is missing, or a failed file/network stream lookup returned null.

Common situations: Typo in classpath resource path so ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream returns null; loading a BPMN file from a location that doesn't exist in the packaged JAR; refactoring resource directories without updating deployment code.

Related errors

• Deployment id is null
• Deployment id is null
• deploymentId is null
• deploymentId is null
• deploymentId is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c5889e19ce2d10bd. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/repository/DeploymentBuilderImpl.java:56

public class DeploymentBuilderImpl implements DeploymentBuilder, Serializable {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    protected transient RepositoryServiceImpl repositoryService;
    protected DeploymentEntity deployment = new DeploymentEntity();
    protected boolean isBpmn20XsdValidationEnabled = true;
    protected boolean isProcessValidationEnabled = true;
    protected boolean isDuplicateFilterEnabled;
    protected Date processDefinitionsActivationDate;

    public DeploymentBuilderImpl(RepositoryServiceImpl repositoryService) {
        this.repositoryService = repositoryService;
    }

    @Override
    public DeploymentBuilder addInputStream(String resourceName, InputStream inputStream) {
        if (inputStream == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("inputStream for resource '" + resourceName + "' is null");
        }
        byte[] bytes = IoUtil.readInputStream(inputStream, resourceName);
        ResourceEntity resource = new ResourceEntity();
        resource.setName(resourceName);
        resource.setBytes(bytes);
        deployment.addResource(resource);
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DeploymentBuilder addClasspathResource(String resource) {
        InputStream inputStream = ReflectUtil.getResourceAsStream(resource);
        if (inputStream == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("resource '" + resource + "' not found");
        }
        return addInputStream(resource, inputStream);
    }

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