flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

No deployed case definition found for key '${caseDefinitionK

Error message

No deployed case definition found for key '${caseDefinitionKey}'.

What it means

FlowableIllegalArgumentException thrown as the last-resort check in getLatestCaseDefinitionByKey: after all lookup paths the caseDefinition variable is still null, so no deployed case definition exists for the key at all.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/cmd/AbstractCaseStartEventSubscriptionCmd.java:107

                        
                    } else {
                        caseDefinition = caseDefinitionEntityManager.findLatestCaseDefinitionByKey(caseDefinitionKey);
                    }
                    
                    if (caseDefinition == null) {
                        throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("No case definition found for key '" + caseDefinitionKey +
                            "'. Fallback to default tenant was also applied.", CaseDefinition.class);
                    }
                    
                } else {
                    throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Case definition with key '" + caseDefinitionKey +
                        "' and tenantId '" + tenantId + "' was not found.", CaseDefinition.class);
                }
            }
        }
        
        if (caseDefinition == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("No deployed case definition found for key '" + caseDefinitionKey + "'.");
        }
        
        return caseDefinition;
    }

    protected CaseDefinition getCaseDefinitionById(String caseDefinitionId, CommandContext commandContext) {
        CmmnRepositoryService repositoryService = CommandContextUtil.getCmmnEngineConfiguration(commandContext).getCmmnRepositoryService();

        CaseDefinition caseDefinition = repositoryService.createCaseDefinitionQuery()
            .caseDefinitionId(caseDefinitionId)
            .singleResult();

        if (caseDefinition == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("No deployed case definition found for id '" + caseDefinitionId + "'.");
        }
        return caseDefinition;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Deploy the case definition with the expected key before triggering the subscription command.
2. List deployed case definitions (repositoryService.createCaseDefinitionQuery().caseDefinitionKey(key)) to confirm presence.
3. Correct the key referenced in the event-registry inbound start-event mapping.

Example fix

// before (subscription created before deployment)
createSubscription(caseDefinitionKey); // key not yet deployed
// after
deploy(cmmnModel);
createSubscription(caseDefinitionKey);

long n = cmmnRepositoryService.createCaseDefinitionQuery().caseDefinitionKey(key).count();
if (n == 0) deploy(cmmnModel);

try { createSubscription(key); }
catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { if (e.getMessage().startsWith("No deployed case definition")) { deployAndRetry(key); } }

When it happens

Trigger: Reached when neither the no-tenant branch nor the tenant branch produced a definition (e.g., an unexpected combination leaves caseDefinition null after the if/else chain).

Common situations: Case model never deployed; deployment removed from the database; key mismatch between the case element's start-event mapping and the deployed case.

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

• No case definition found for key '${caseDefinitionKey}'
• No case definition found for key <caseDefinitionKey>
• DMN decision with key ${externalRef} was not executed. For $
• No event model found for event key ${key} for ${planItemInst
• No case definition found for key '${caseDefinitionKey}'. Fal

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a8da36ea59bbe1dc. Report an issue: GitHub.