flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

The config is null

Error message

The config is null

What it means

Null check in CmmnManagementServiceImpl.executeCommand(CommandConfig, Command): a null CommandConfig (the txfactory/retry/timeout config) is rejected before execution. The config decides how the command runs (transaction handling), so it is required.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/CmmnManagementServiceImpl.java:352

    public void unacquireAllExternalWorkerJobsForWorker(String workerId, String tenantId) {
        commandExecutor.execute(new UnacquireAllExternalWorkerJobsForWorkerCmd(workerId, tenantId, configuration.getJobServiceConfiguration()));
    }
    
    @Override
    public ChangeTenantIdBuilder createChangeTenantIdBuilder(String fromTenantId, String toTenantId) {
        return new ChangeTenantIdBuilderImpl(fromTenantId, toTenantId, configuration.getChangeTenantIdManager());
    }

    public <T> T executeCommand(Command<T> command) {
        if (command == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The command is null");
        }
        return commandExecutor.execute(command);
    }

    public <T> T executeCommand(CommandConfig config, Command<T> command) {
        if (config == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The config is null");
        }
        if (command == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("The command is null");
        }
        return commandExecutor.execute(config, command);
    }
    
    @Override
    public LockManager getLockManager(String lockName) {
        return new LockManagerImpl(commandExecutor, lockName, getConfiguration().getLockPollRate(), configuration.getEngineCfgKey());
    }

}

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Use a valid config, e.g. commandExecutor's defaultConfig or new StandaloneTaskCommandConfig() / appropriate CommandConfig
2. Guard the config lookup: fall back to a default when the resolved config is null
3. Check initialization order so the config field is set before first use

Example fix

// before
cmmnManagementService.executeCommand(cfg, cmd); // cfg may be null
// after
CommandConfig cfg = resolveConfigOrDefault();
cmmnManagementService.executeCommand(cfg != null ? cfg : new CommandConfig(), cmd);

CommandConfig cfg = resolveConfig(); if (cfg == null) cfg = new CommandConfig();

try { managementService.executeCommand(cfg, cmd); } catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { /* null config */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling cmmnManagementService.executeCommand(null, someCommand).

Common situations: Caching a CommandConfig in a field never initialized; receiving config from a lookup that returned null; copy-paste between the one-arg and two-arg executeCommand variants.

Related errors

• The command is null
• Job id is null
• variableName is null
• category is null
• categoryLike is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f59ef26d113cc2f2. Report an issue: GitHub.