flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

No process instance found for id =

Error message

No process instance found for id = '${processInstanceId}'.

What it means

execute() looks up the process instance by id via the ExecutionEntityManager. If no execution exists for the given id, it throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException typed to ProcessInstance, meaning the id does not reference any execution in the runtime database.

Solutions

1. Confirm the instance exists in ACT_RU_EXECUTION (runtime, not history) with the given id
2. Use the root process instance id from RuntimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(...) instead of a stored/copied value
3. Check the engine is connected to the correct database/schema where the instance lives

Example fix

// before
managementService.executeCommand(new SetProcessDefinitionVersionCmd("123", 3)); // id may not exist
// after
ProcessInstance pi = runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId("123").singleResult();
if (pi != null) {
    managementService.executeCommand(new SetProcessDefinitionVersionCmd(pi.getId(), 3));
}

ProcessInstance pi = runtimeService.createProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(id).singleResult();
boolean exists = pi != null;

try { cmd.execute(ctx); } catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) { // fall back: check history
    historyService.createHistoricProcessInstanceQuery().processInstanceId(id).singleResult(); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SetProcessDefinitionVersionCmd (or setProcessDefinitionVersion on the runtime service) with a processInstanceId that was deleted, already ended, never existed, or belongs to a different database/schema.

Common situations: Migrating instances after cleanup jobs removed completed instances; pointing at a historic instance (removed from ACT_RU_EXECUTION); typos in ids; wrong tenant/schema connection.

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

• Cannot find process instance with id
• Cannot find process instance with id
• No process instance found for id =
• No process instance found for id =
• No process instance found for id =

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dac93d98319c2824. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/engine/impl/cmd/SetProcessDefinitionVersionCmd.java:84

        }
        if (processDefinitionVersion == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The process definition version is mandatory, but 'null' has been provided.");
        }
        if (processDefinitionVersion < 1) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The process definition version must be positive, but '" + processDefinitionVersion + "' has been provided.");
        }
        this.processInstanceId = processInstanceId;
        this.processDefinitionVersion = processDefinitionVersion;
    }

    @Override
    public Void execute(CommandContext commandContext) {
        // check that the new process definition is just another version of the same
        // process definition that the process instance is using
        ExecutionEntityManager executionManager = CommandContextUtil.getExecutionEntityManager(commandContext);
        ExecutionEntity processInstance = executionManager.findById(processInstanceId);
        if (processInstance == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("No process instance found for id = '" + processInstanceId + "'.", ProcessInstance.class);
        } else if (!processInstance.isProcessInstanceType()) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("A process instance id is required, but the provided id " + "'" + processInstanceId + "' " + "points to a child execution of process instance " + "'"
                    + processInstance.getProcessInstanceId() + "'. " + "Please invoke the " + getClass().getSimpleName() + " with a root execution id.");
        }

        DeploymentManager deploymentCache = CommandContextUtil.getProcessEngineConfiguration(commandContext).getDeploymentManager();
        ProcessDefinition currentProcessDefinition = deploymentCache.findDeployedProcessDefinitionById(processInstance.getProcessDefinitionId());

        ProcessDefinition newProcessDefinition = deploymentCache
                .findDeployedProcessDefinitionByKeyAndVersionAndTenantId(currentProcessDefinition.getKey(), processDefinitionVersion, currentProcessDefinition.getTenantId());

        if (Flowable5Util.isFlowable5ProcessDefinition(currentProcessDefinition, commandContext) && !Flowable5Util
            .isFlowable5ProcessDefinition(newProcessDefinition, commandContext)) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The current process definition (id = '" + currentProcessDefinition.getId() + "') is a v5 definition."
                + " However the new process definition (id = '" + newProcessDefinition.getId() + "') is not a v5 definition.");
        }

        validateAndSwitchVersionOfExecution(commandContext, processInstance, newProcessDefinition);

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