flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

no decisions deployed with key

Error message

no decisions deployed with key '${definitionKey}' for deployment id '${deploymentId}'

What it means

findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException when the given deployment does not contain a decision with the given key (findDecisionByDeploymentAndKey returns null). This pins the lookup to one specific deployment's version of the decision.

Solutions

Confirm the decision is in that deployment: createDecisionQuery().deploymentId(id).decisionKey(key).list().
Use the correct deploymentId that actually contains the decision, or fall back to findDeployedLatestDefinitionByKey for the latest across deployments.
Redeploy the DMN resource with the expected key into that deployment.

Example fix

// before
DecisionEntity d = manager.findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId("approveOrder", wrongDeploymentId);
// after
if (dmnRepositoryService.createDecisionQuery().deploymentId(deploymentId).decisionKey("approveOrder").count() == 0) {
    throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("decision not in deployment " + deploymentId);
}
DecisionEntity d = manager.findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId("approveOrder", deploymentId);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

boolean inDeployment = dmnRepositoryService.createDecisionQuery()
    .deploymentId(deploymentId).decisionKey(key).count() > 0;

Try / catch

try { return manager.findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId(key, deploymentId); } catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) { return manager.findDeployedLatestDefinitionByKey(key); /* fallback */ }

Prevention

Capture the deploymentId returned at deploy time and store it with the referencing config
Don't assume a key exists in every deployment
Prefer latest-by-key lookups unless strict deployment pinning is required

When it happens

Trigger: Calling findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId with a deploymentId that doesn't include the decision, or a key that wasn't part of that deployment.

Common situations: Mixing deployment ids across environments; the .dmn file with that key was removed in a later deployment; key renamed inside the deployed resource while callers still use the old key.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/06eba4f7ce5fdf94. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-dmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/dmn/engine/impl/persistence/deploy/DeploymentManager.java:105

        definition = resolveDecision(definition).getDecisionEntity();
        return definition;
    }

    public DecisionEntity findDeployedLatestDefinitionByKeyAndTenantId(String definitionKey, String tenantId) {
        DecisionEntity definition = decisionEntityManager.findLatestDecisionByKeyAndTenantId(definitionKey, tenantId);

        if (definition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("no decisions deployed with key '" + definitionKey + "' for tenant identifier '" + tenantId + "'");
        }
        definition = resolveDecision(definition).getDecisionEntity();
        return definition;
    }

    public DecisionEntity findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyAndDeploymentId(String definitionKey, String deploymentId) {
        DecisionEntity definition = decisionEntityManager.findDecisionByDeploymentAndKey(deploymentId, definitionKey);

        if (definition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("no decisions deployed with key '" + definitionKey +
                            "' for deployment id '" + deploymentId + "'");
        }
        definition = resolveDecision(definition).getDecisionEntity();
        return definition;
    }

    public DecisionEntity findDeployedLatestDecisionByKeyDeploymentIdAndTenantId(String definitionKey,
            String deploymentId, String tenantId) {
        DecisionEntity definition = decisionEntityManager.findDecisionByDeploymentAndKeyAndTenantId(deploymentId, definitionKey, tenantId);

        if (definition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("no decisions deployed with key '" + definitionKey +
                            "' for deployment id '" + deploymentId + "' and tenant identifier " + tenantId);
        }
        definition = resolveDecision(definition).getDecisionEntity();
        return definition;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)