What causes "Unsupported transaction propagation: " in flowable/flowable-engine?

Set transaction propagation to one of NOT_SUPPORTED, REQUIRED, or REQUIRES_NEW on the engine configuration

flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Unsupported transaction propagation:

Error message

Unsupported transaction propagation:

What it means

SpringTransactionInterceptor.getPropagation maps Flowable's CommandContext transaction propagation enums onto Spring TransactionTemplate constants. Any propagation value other than NOT_SUPPORTED, REQUIRED, or REQUIRES_NEW hits the default branch and throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException. This means the engine configuration carries a propagation value the Spring interceptor cannot translate.

Solutions

Set transaction propagation to one of NOT_SUPPORTED, REQUIRED, or REQUIRES_NEW on the engine configuration
If MANDATORY/SUPPORTS/NEVER semantics are needed, use a non-Spring transaction context factory or a custom interceptor that maps them
Review config properties (e.g. flowable.* propagation settings) for invalid values
Check for version mismatches where the config class offers propagations the interceptor lacks

Example fix

// before
processEngineConfiguration.setTransactionPropagation(Propagation.MANDATORY);
// after
processEngineConfiguration.setTransactionPropagation(Propagation.REQUIRED);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

Propagation p = config.getTransactionPropagation();
if (p != Propagation.NOT_SUPPORTED && p != Propagation.REQUIRED && p != Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported propagation for Spring: " + p);
}

Type guard

boolean springSupported(Propagation p) { return p == Propagation.NOT_SUPPORTED || p == Propagation.REQUIRED || p == Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW; }

Try / catch

try { txInterceptor.execute(command); } catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { /* log invalid propagation config and correct it */ }

Prevention

Only set NOT_SUPPORTED, REQUIRED, or REQUIRES_NEW in Spring setups
Validate config property strings against the supported enum before applying
Recheck propagation settings after engine version upgrades
Document allowed propagation values in your config schema

When it happens

Trigger: SpringProcessEngineConfiguration (or other Spring engine configuration) is given a transaction propagation value not in {NOT_SUPPORTED, REQUIRED, REQUIRES_NEW} and a command executes (execute) or transactionPropagation is queried.

Common situations: Setting propagation programmatically from a config property string that parses to MANDATORY/SUPPORTS/NEVER; version upgrades introducing new enum values not supported by the Spring interceptor; copy-pasting non-Spring (standalone) engine config into a Spring setup.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e696d19e322eb7d2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-spring-common/src/main/java/org/flowable/common/spring/SpringTransactionInterceptor.java:72

        } else {
            TransactionTemplate transactionTemplate = new TransactionTemplate(transactionManager);
            transactionTemplate.setPropagationBehavior(transactionPropagation);
            return transactionTemplate.execute(status -> next.execute(config, command, commandExecutor));

        }

    }

    private int getPropagation(CommandConfig config) {
        switch (config.getTransactionPropagation()) {
        case NOT_SUPPORTED:
            return TransactionTemplate.PROPAGATION_NOT_SUPPORTED;
        case REQUIRED:
            return TransactionTemplate.PROPAGATION_REQUIRED;
        case REQUIRES_NEW:
            return TransactionTemplate.PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW;
        default:
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Unsupported transaction propagation: " + config.getTransactionPropagation());
        }
    }
}

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