flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

name is null

Error message

name is null

What it means

ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl.processDefinitionName(String) filters process definitions by their exact name. Flowable throws ActivitiIllegalArgumentException when the name is null, because the equality filter requires a non-null string value.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl.java:123

            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("categoryLike is null");
        }
        this.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl processDefinitionCategoryNotEquals(String categoryNotEquals) {
        if (categoryNotEquals == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("categoryNotEquals is null");
        }
        this.categoryNotEquals = categoryNotEquals;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl processDefinitionName(String name) {
        if (name == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("name is null");
        }
        this.name = name;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl processDefinitionNameLike(String nameLike) {
        if (nameLike == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("nameLike is null");
        }
        this.nameLike = nameLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl deploymentId(String deploymentId) {
        if (deploymentId == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("id is null");

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-null process definition name matching a deployed definition.
2. Null-check the name before applying the filter; skip processDefinitionName() when not filtering by name.
3. Use processDefinitionKey() instead if you actually identify processes by key.
4. Catch ActivitiIllegalArgumentException around query construction for centralized handling.

Example fix

// before
query.processDefinitionName(config.get("process.name")); // may be null
// after
String name = config.get("process.name");
if (name != null) {
    query.processDefinitionName(name);
}

if (processName != null && !processName.isEmpty()) {
    query.processDefinitionName(processName);
}

boolean hasName(String n) { return n != null && !n.isEmpty(); }

try {
    query.processDefinitionName(name);
} catch (org.activiti.engine.ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    throw new BadRequestException("processDefinitionName must not be null", e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling processDefinitionQuery.processDefinitionName(null) — usually when the process name comes from an unset variable, missing config, or a failed lookup.

Common situations: Runtime-driven lookups where the process name is resolved dynamically and comes back null; typos in configuration keys that leave the name field unset.

Related errors

• category is null
• categoryLike is null
• categoryNotEquals is null
• process definition id is null
• process definition id is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c4b489f305815896. Report an issue: GitHub.