flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

No case instance found for id = '${caseInstanceId}'.

Error message

No case instance found for id = '${caseInstanceId}'.

What it means

Thrown by SetCaseInstanceBusinessStatusCmd.execute when no CMMN case instance exists for the given id. Flowable looks up the CaseInstanceEntity via the entity manager before updating its business status; if findById returns null it raises FlowableObjectNotFoundException with CaseInstance.class as the referenced type. It signals that the target case instance does not exist (or was already deleted).

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/cmd/SetCaseInstanceBusinessStatusCmd.java:47

    private final String caseInstanceId;
    private final String businessStatus;

    public SetCaseInstanceBusinessStatusCmd(String caseInstanceId, String businessStatus) {
        if (caseInstanceId == null || caseInstanceId.isEmpty()) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The case instance id is mandatory, but '" + caseInstanceId + "' has not been provided.");
        }

        this.caseInstanceId = caseInstanceId;
        this.businessStatus = businessStatus;
    }

    @Override
    public Void execute(CommandContext commandContext) {
        CaseInstanceEntityManager caseInstanceEntityManager = CommandContextUtil.getCaseInstanceEntityManager(commandContext);
        CaseInstanceEntity caseInstanceEntity = caseInstanceEntityManager.findById(caseInstanceId);
        if (caseInstanceEntity == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("No case instance found for id = '" + caseInstanceId + "'.", CaseInstance.class);
        }

        caseInstanceEntityManager.updateCaseInstanceBusinessStatus(caseInstanceEntity, businessStatus);

        return null;
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Verify the caseInstanceId with cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(id).singleResult() before setting the status
2. Confirm you are not confusing a BPMN process instance id with a CMMN case instance id
3. Check you are connected to the same database/schema where the case instance was created
4. If the case may no longer exist, catch FlowableObjectNotFoundException and treat it as an idempotent no-op or propagate a 404

Example fix

// before
cmmnRuntimeService.setCaseInstanceBusinessStatus(caseInstanceId, "ACTIVE");
// after
if (cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(caseInstanceId).count() > 0) {
    cmmnRuntimeService.setCaseInstanceBusinessStatus(caseInstanceId, "ACTIVE");
} else {
    logger.warn("Case instance {} not found, skipping business status update", caseInstanceId);
}

boolean exists = cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(caseInstanceId).count() > 0;
if (!exists) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown caseInstanceId: " + caseInstanceId); }

boolean isValidCaseInstance(String id) { return id != null && !id.isEmpty() && cmmnRuntimeService.createCaseInstanceQuery().caseInstanceId(id).count() > 0; }

try {
    cmmnRuntimeService.setCaseInstanceBusinessStatus(caseInstanceId, status);
} catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) {
    throw new NotFoundException("Case instance not found: " + caseInstanceId, e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling CmmnRuntimeService.setCaseInstanceBusinessStatus(caseInstanceId, businessStatus) with an id that does not match any running or completed case instance.

Common situations: Passing a processInstanceId (BPMN) instead of a caseInstanceId; using a stale id after the case instance ended and was removed; typos or truncated ids from external storage; querying a different database/schema than the one the case was created in.

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

• Cannot find case instance for id ${caseInstanceId}
• Cannot find case instance with id
• Cannot find case instance with id
• case instance ${caseInstanceId} doesn't exist
• No case instance found for id = '${caseInstanceId}'.

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0451b1146d0855b6. Report an issue: GitHub.