flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableObjectNotFoundException

Required decision <decisionId> is not available

Error message

Required decision <decisionId> is not available

What it means

When executing a decision service, Flowable topologically sorts required decisions to determine execution order. If a decision referenced (via required decisions/decision dependencies) is not among the decisions in the current deployment/scope, a FlowableObjectNotFoundException is thrown.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-dmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/dmn/engine/impl/agenda/operation/ExecuteDecisionServiceOperation.java:105

            if (sortDecision.getRequiredDecisions().isEmpty()) {
                sortDecisions.addFirst(sortDecision);
            } else {
                sortDecisions.addLast(sortDecision);
            }
        }

        for (Decision decision : sortDecisions) {
            if (!visited.get(decision.getId())) {
                executeSort(decisionsById, decision.getId(), visited, order);
            }
        }

        return order;
    }

    private void executeSort(Map<String, Decision> decisions, String decisionId, Map<String, Boolean> visited, List<Decision> order) {
        if (!decisions.containsKey(decisionId)) {
            throw new FlowableObjectNotFoundException("Required decision " + decisionId + " is not available");
        }

        // Mark the current node as visited
        visited.replace(decisionId, true);

        // We reuse the algorithm on all adjacent nodes to the current node
        for (InformationRequirement requiredDecision : decisions.get(decisionId).getRequiredDecisions()) {
            if (!visited.get(requiredDecision.getRequiredDecision().getParsedId())) {
                executeSort(decisions, requiredDecision.getRequiredDecision().getParsedId(), visited, order);
            }
        }

        // Put the current node in the array
        order.add(decisions.get(decisionId));
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

  1. Ensure all DMN files referenced as required decisions are in the same deployment
  2. Check the decision id strings referenced by the decision service match actual decision ids (case-sensitive)
  3. Redeploy the complete DMN artifact set for that tenant
  4. Inspect the decision service's requiredDecisions in the DMN XML to enumerate missing keys

Example fix

// before
<decisionService>... requires decision 'risk-score' but only 'fraud-check' deployed
// after
deploy both decisions dmn files in the repository before executing the decision service
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

for (String requiredId : decisionServiceInfo.getRequiredDecisions()) {
  if (repositoryService.createDecisionQuery().decisionKey(requiredId).list().isEmpty()) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("required decision not deployed: " + requiredId);
  }
}

Try / catch

try { dmnEngine.executeDecisionServiceByKey(serviceKey, vars); }
catch (FlowableObjectNotFoundException e) {
  LOG.error("missing required decision in deployment: {}", e.getMessage());
  // redeploy full DMN artifact set
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: executeSort visits decisionId while computing the execution order and decisions map (built from the deployment's decisions for this decision service) does not contain that key.

Common situations: A DMN deployment is missing one of the decisions referenced by the decision service's required decisions; deploying a partial set of DMN resources; renaming decision ids after they were cross-referenced; case/tenant-specific deployments lacking a dependency.

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

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5838ab280d3895c0. Report an issue: GitHub.