flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

no processes deployed with key = '" + processDefinitionKey…

Error message

no processes deployed with key = '" + processDefinitionKey + "' and version = '" + processDefinitionVersion + "'

What it means

Flowable throws FlowableObjectNotFoundException when looking up a deployed definition by exact key + version (optionally tenant) and no such combination exists. The query filters ACT_RE_PROCDEF on key, version and tenant; any mismatch produces null and this error.

Solutions

Check available versions: repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery().processDefinitionKey(key).list() and inspect getVersion()
Use the latest version (startProcessInstanceByKey) instead of pinning an exact version if not strictly needed
Redeploy the specific BPMN version if that exact version must exist
Confirm tenant id matches the version's tenant scope

Example fix

// before
runtimeService.startProcessInstanceById(key, 7, vars); // version 7 never deployed
// after
ProcessDefinition pd = repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery().processDefinitionKey(key)
    .latestVersion().singleResult();
runtimeService.startProcessInstanceById(pd.getId(), vars);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

ProcessDefinition pd = repositoryService.createProcessDefinitionQuery()
    .processDefinitionKey(key)
    .processDefinitionVersion(version)
    .singleResult();
if (pd == null) { /* fall back to latestVersion */ }

Prevention

Avoid hardcoding version numbers; query latestVersion when possible
After redeploys, re-resolve versions rather than caching them
Include version in error logging for traceability

When it happens

Trigger: repositoryService.getProcessDefinition(key, version) style lookups / newProcessDefinition resolution where the requested version was never deployed or was deleted; asking for version 5 when only versions 1-3 exist.

Common situations: Hardcoded version numbers after redeployments shifted versions; definitions redeployed on a fresh database so old versions no longer exist; off-by-one assumptions (expecting version to start at 1 when it does, but requesting 0).

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

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ddc546ff9138cd4d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/engine/impl/persistence/deploy/DeploymentManager.java:108

        }
        processDefinition = resolveProcessDefinition(processDefinition).getProcessDefinition();
        return processDefinition;
    }

    public ProcessDefinition findDeployedLatestProcessDefinitionByKeyAndTenantId(String processDefinitionKey, String tenantId) {
        ProcessDefinition processDefinition = processDefinitionEntityManager.findLatestProcessDefinitionByKeyAndTenantId(processDefinitionKey, tenantId);
        if (processDefinition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("no processes deployed with key '" + processDefinitionKey + "' for tenant identifier '" + tenantId + "'", ProcessDefinition.class);
        }
        processDefinition = resolveProcessDefinition(processDefinition).getProcessDefinition();
        return processDefinition;
    }

    public ProcessDefinition findDeployedProcessDefinitionByKeyAndVersionAndTenantId(String processDefinitionKey, Integer processDefinitionVersion, String tenantId) {
        ProcessDefinition processDefinition = (ProcessDefinitionEntity) processDefinitionEntityManager
                .findProcessDefinitionByKeyAndVersionAndTenantId(processDefinitionKey, processDefinitionVersion, tenantId);
        if (processDefinition == null) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("no processes deployed with key = '" + processDefinitionKey + "' and version = '" + processDefinitionVersion + "'", ProcessDefinition.class);
        }
        processDefinition = resolveProcessDefinition(processDefinition).getProcessDefinition();
        return processDefinition;
    }

    /**
     * Resolving the process definition will fetch the BPMN 2.0, parse it and store the {@link BpmnModel} in memory.
     */
    public ProcessDefinitionCacheEntry resolveProcessDefinition(ProcessDefinition processDefinition) {
        String processDefinitionId = processDefinition.getId();
        String deploymentId = processDefinition.getDeploymentId();

        ProcessDefinitionCacheEntry cachedProcessDefinition = processDefinitionCache.get(processDefinitionId);

        if (cachedProcessDefinition == null) {
            if (Flowable5Util.isFlowable5ProcessDefinition(processDefinition, processEngineConfiguration)) {
                return Flowable5Util.getFlowable5CompatibilityHandler().resolveProcessDefinition(processDefinition);
            }

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