flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiObjectNotFoundException

No historic process instance found with id

Error message

No historic process instance found with id: ${processInstanceId}

What it means

DeleteHistoricProcessInstanceCmd looks up a completed process instance in the ACT_HI_PROCINST history table by id. If no historic row exists with that id, it throws ActivitiObjectNotFoundException carrying HistoricProcessInstance.class as the reference type. History deletion only operates on already-archived instances.

Solutions

1. Query historyService.createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(id).singleResult() before deleting and skip missing ids.
2. Verify the process instance actually completed (endTime set) and ran under a history level that records the instance (audit/activity).
3. Wrap the delete in try/catch for ActivitiObjectNotFoundException and treat it as already-deleted in cleanup code.
4. Confirm you are connected to the same database/schema where the process ran.

Example fix

// before
historyService.deleteHistoricProcessInstance(processInstanceId);
// after
HistoricProcessInstance hpi = historyService.createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery()
        .processInstanceId(processInstanceId).singleResult();
if (hpi != null) {
    historyService.deleteHistoricProcessInstance(processInstanceId);
}

if (historyService.createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery()
        .processInstanceId(processInstanceId).count() == 0) {
    return; // nothing to delete
}

try {
    historyService.deleteHistoricProcessInstance(processInstanceId);
} catch (ActivitiObjectNotFoundException e) {
    // already deleted or never recorded; treat as success
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling runtimeService/historyService deleteHistoricProcessInstance(id) (this command) with an id that has no row in the historic process instance table: a bogus id, an id whose history was already deleted, or a process whose history level was configured to 'none' or 'activity' so no historic instance was ever written.

Common situations: Double-deletion in cleanup jobs that don't check for prior removal; processes executed under historyLevel=none; purging history in a different database/environment than the one that recorded it; typos or stale ids cached from another deployment.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• No historic process instance found with id:
• Cannot find process definition with id
• Cannot find process instance with id
• Cannot find process instance with id
• Cannot find process instance with id

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3989ed7995fcec4a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/cmd/DeleteHistoricProcessInstanceCmd.java:48

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    protected String processInstanceId;

    public DeleteHistoricProcessInstanceCmd(String processInstanceId) {
        this.processInstanceId = processInstanceId;
    }

    @Override
    public Object execute(CommandContext commandContext) {
        if (processInstanceId == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("processInstanceId is null");
        }
        // Check if process instance is still running
        HistoricProcessInstance instance = commandContext
                .getHistoricProcessInstanceEntityManager()
                .findHistoricProcessInstance(processInstanceId);

        if (instance == null) {
            throw new ActivitiObjectNotFoundException("No historic process instance found with id: " + processInstanceId, HistoricProcessInstance.class);
        }
        if (instance.getEndTime() == null) {
            throw new ActivitiException("Process instance is still running, cannot delete historic process instance: " + processInstanceId);
        }

        commandContext
                .getHistoricProcessInstanceEntityManager()
                .deleteHistoricProcessInstanceById(processInstanceId);

        return null;
    }

}

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