flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

No process definition found for name:

Error message

No process definition found for name: 

What it means

startProcessByName queries the repository for a process definition whose name equals the given string; when the query returns no row, it throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException. This means no deployed (and enabled) process definition matches that name.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cdi/src/main/java/org/flowable/cdi/BusinessProcess.java:233

        if (!processInstance.isEnded()) {
            setExecution(processInstance);
        }
        return processInstance;
    }

    /**
     * @deprecated
     */
    @Deprecated
    public ProcessInstance startProcessByName(String string) {

        if (Context.getCommandContext() != null) {
            throw new FlowableCdiException("Cannot use startProcessByName in an active command.");
        }

        ProcessDefinition definition = processEngine.getRepositoryService().createProcessDefinitionQuery().processDefinitionName(string).singleResult();
        if (definition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("No process definition found for name: " + string, ProcessDefinition.class);
        }
        ProcessInstance instance = processEngine.getRuntimeService().startProcessInstanceById(definition.getId(), getAndClearCachedVariables());
        if (!instance.isEnded()) {
            setExecution(instance);
        }
        return instance;
    }

    /**
     * @deprecated
     */
    @Deprecated
    public ProcessInstance startProcessByName(String string, Map<String, Object> variables) {

        if (Context.getCommandContext() != null) {
            throw new FlowableCdiException("Cannot use startProcessByName in an active command.");
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Verify the deployed definition name via repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery().list() and use an exact existing name.
2. Deploy the BPMN resource before calling startProcessByName (e.g. repositoryService.createDeployment().addClasspathResource(...).deploy()).
3. If you meant the process key, use startProcessByKey instead of by-name lookup.

Example fix

// before
businessProcess.startProcessByName("OrderProcess"); // wrong name
// after
ProcessDefinition def = repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery()
    .processDefinitionName("Order Process").latestVersion().singleResult();
if (def != null) {
  businessProcess.startProcessByName("Order Process");
}

ProcessDefinition def = repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery()
    .processDefinitionName(name).singleResult();
if (def == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("No deployed definition named " + name);

boolean isDeployed(String name) {
  return repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery()
      .processDefinitionName(name).count() > 0;
}

try {
  businessProcess.startProcessByName(name);
} catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) {
  // log missing definition, deploy or correct the name
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling businessProcess.startProcessByName(name) where no deployed process definition has that exact definition name — either never deployed, not yet deployed, or name mismatch (name vs key confusion).

Common situations: Deploying a BPMN whose process name differs from its key; forgetting to deploy resources in tests; using the process key where the name is expected; querying before the deployment transaction commits.

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

• Cannot associate execution by id: no execution with id '
• Cannot resume task with id '
• Process definition ${processDefinitionKey} was not found in
• No process definition found for key '{processDefinitionKey}'
• No process definition found for key '{processDefinitionKey}'

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ddae2a4542a90d93. Report an issue: GitHub.