flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

No execution found for id '${executionId}'

Error message

No execution found for id '${executionId}'

What it means

ExecuteActivityForAdhocSubProcessCmd looks up the execution by id and throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException when findById returns null, meaning no execution with the given id exists in this engine (or it was already ended/removed).

Source

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

/**
 * @author Tijs Rademakers
 */
public class ExecuteActivityForAdhocSubProcessCmd implements Command<Execution>, Serializable {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    protected String executionId;
    protected String activityId;

    public ExecuteActivityForAdhocSubProcessCmd(String executionId, String activityId) {
        this.executionId = executionId;
        this.activityId = activityId;
    }

    @Override
    public Execution execute(CommandContext commandContext) {
        ExecutionEntity execution = CommandContextUtil.getExecutionEntityManager(commandContext).findById(executionId);
        if (execution == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("No execution found for id '" + executionId + "'", ExecutionEntity.class);
        }

        if (!(execution.getCurrentFlowElement() instanceof AdhocSubProcess adhocSubProcess)) {
            throw new FlowableException("The current flow element of the requested " + execution + " is not an ad-hoc sub process");
        }

        FlowNode foundNode = null;

        // if sequential ordering, only one child execution can be active
        if (adhocSubProcess.hasSequentialOrdering()) {
            if (execution.getExecutions().size() > 0) {
                throw new FlowableException("Sequential ad-hoc sub process in " + execution + " already has an active execution");
            }
        }

        for (FlowElement flowElement : adhocSubProcess.getFlowElements()) {
            if (activityId.equals(flowElement.getId()) && flowElement instanceof FlowNode flowNode) {
                if (flowNode.getIncomingFlows().size() == 0) {

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Validate the executionId with runtimeService.createExecutionQuery().executionId(id).singleResult() before invoking
2. Confirm the process instance is still running and the id is an execution id, not a task or process instance id from another table
3. Check you are connected to the correct database/tenant

Example fix

// before
managementService.executeCommand(new ExecuteActivityForAdhocSubProcessCmd(staleId, "activity1"));
// after
Execution exec = runtimeService.createExecutionQuery().executionId(executionId).singleResult();
if (exec == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown execution " + executionId);
managementService.executeCommand(new ExecuteActivityForAdhocSubProcessCmd(exec.getId(), "activity1"));

Execution exec = runtimeService.createExecutionQuery().executionId(executionId).singleResult();
if (exec == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown executionId: " + executionId);

boolean executionExists(String id) { return runtimeService.createExecutionQuery().executionId(id).count() > 0; }

try { ... } catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) { if (e.getEntityClass() == ExecutionEntity.class) { /* refresh ids / fail gracefully */ } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling dynamicBPMN/ad-hoc-subprocess APIs such as executing an ad-hoc activity with an executionId that has completed, was deleted, belongs to another engine's database, or is simply mistyped.

Common situations: Stale executionId captured before process instance termination; querying the wrong tenant/engine datasource; copy-paste of a task id instead of an execution id.

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

• The current flow element of the requested ${execution} is no
• Sequential ad-hoc sub process in ${execution} already has an
• The requested activity with id ${activityId} can not be enab
• execution ${executionId} doesn't exist
• The current flow element of the requested ${execution} is no

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f62300ce7174c538. Report an issue: GitHub.