flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Provided groupIds is null

Error message

Provided groupIds is null

What it means

UserQueryImpl.memberOfGroups(List<String>) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the groupIds list reference is null. The engine distinguishes 'no filter' from 'filter by a null list' and rejects the latter. Pass a populated (or at least non-null) list of group ids.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-idm-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/idm/engine/impl/UserQueryImpl.java:222

            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided emailLike is null");
        }
        this.emailLike = emailLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public UserQuery memberOfGroup(String groupId) {
        if (groupId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided groupId is null");
        }
        this.groupId = groupId;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public UserQuery memberOfGroups(List<String> groupIds) {
        if (groupIds == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided groupIds is null");
        }
        this.groupIds = groupIds;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public UserQuery tenantId(String tenantId) {
        if (tenantId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("TenantId is null");
        }
        this.tenantId = tenantId;
        return this;
    }

    // sorting //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    @Override
    public UserQuery orderByUserId() {

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-null List<String> of group ids (an empty list is acceptable if supported; otherwise check size first).
2. Guard: if (groupIds != null && !groupIds.isEmpty()) query = query.memberOfGroups(groupIds);
3. Initialize the collection with Collections.emptyList() instead of leaving it null.

Example fix

// before
query.memberOfGroups(candidateGroups); // candidateGroups may be null
// after
if (candidateGroups != null && !candidateGroups.isEmpty()) {
    query = query.memberOfGroups(candidateGroups);
}

if (groupIds != null && !groupIds.isEmpty()) { query = query.memberOfGroups(groupIds); }

boolean hasGroups(java.util.List<String> ids) { return ids != null && !ids.isEmpty(); }

try { query.memberOfGroups(groupIds); } catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { log.warn("Null groupIds ignored", e); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling identityService.createUserQuery().memberOfGroups(null); typically when the list itself was never initialized.

Common situations: Collecting candidate groups from process variables or role mappings; the variable is unset so the List reference is null rather than empty.

Related errors

• Provided groupId is null
• Provided email is null
• Provided emailLike is null
• groupId is null
• groupId is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d10e5a65742a4d21. Report an issue: GitHub.