flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Provided element id is null

Error message

Provided element id is null

What it means

Flowable's TimerJobQueryImpl.elementId(String) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the element id filter is null. The element id identifies the BPMN activity the timer is attached to; null is not a valid filter value so it is rejected eagerly. Omit the call if you do not want to filter by element.

Solutions

1. Validate the FlowElement/BpmnModel reference is non-null before reading its id
2. Null-check and skip the elementId filter when absent
3. Fix the BPMN model so the relevant timer/boundary event has an id
4. Catch FlowableIllegalArgumentException for defensive UI/API layers

Example fix

// before
query.elementId(flowElement.getId());
// after
if (flowElement != null) {
    query.elementId(flowElement.getId());
}

if (elementId == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("elementId must be resolved from a non-null FlowElement"); }

boolean hasElementId(FlowElement e) { return e != null && e.getId() != null; }

try { query.elementId(elId); } catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { log.warn("Null element id filter", e); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling createTimerJobQuery().elementId(null), e.g. when the id is taken from a FlowElement reference or model node that was null.

Common situations: Resolving the element from an execution that has not reached the activity yet; a misconfigured BPMN model where the boundary event has no id; dynamic inspection code that passes through a nullable model object.

Related errors

• Provided element name is null
• Business key is null
• Business status is null
• Case definition category is null
• Case definition id is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7a4e2dd4150ec1e4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-job-service/src/main/java/org/flowable/job/service/impl/TimerJobQueryImpl.java:199

    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQueryImpl categoryLike(String categoryLike) {
        if (categoryLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided categoryLike is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        } else {
            this.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQueryImpl elementId(String elementId) {
        if (elementId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided element id is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.elementId = elementId;
        } else {
            this.elementId = elementId;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQuery elementIds(Collection<String> elementIds) {
        if (elementIds == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided element ids are null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.elementIds = elementIds;
        } else {
            this.elementIds = elementIds;

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