Flowable

Flowable
Example of editing a BPMN model in Flowable
Developer(s)	Community
Stable release	7.2.0, [1] 6.8.1, [2] 5.23.0 [3] / 21 August 2025
Repository	github.com/flowable/flowable-engine
Written in	Java, JavaScript
Operating system	Linux, Windows
Type	Business process management, Workflow
Licence	Apache License 2.0
Website	www.flowable.com

• Free and open-source software portal

Flowable is an open-source workflow engine written in Java that can execute business processes described in BPMN 2.0. ^[4] It is an actively maintained fork of Activiti (software). ^[5]

History

In October 2016, the lead developers of Activiti (software) left Alfresco (software) and started the Flowable Open Source project based on a fork of Activiti code. ^{[6] [7]}

The first version of Flowable was 5.22, based on a fork of Activiti 5.21, but added Transient Variables. ^[8] The first release of Flowable version 6.0 ^[9] was based on a fork of Activiti version 6 beta 4. Version 6 of the Flowable engine includes a rewrite of the core process virtual machine.

Components

The project comprises a set of modules that can operate together:

• BPMN Engine, the core Business Process Model and Notation workflow processor
• CMMN Engine, a Case Management Model and Notation processor
• DMN Engine, an implementation of a subset of Decision Model and Notation based business rules
• Flowable Design, a cloud-based graphical authoring interface for editing BPMN, CMMN, and DMN ^{[10] [11]}

Differences between Version 5 and Version 6

The key changes in Flowable 6 are: ^{[12] [13]}

• Abstract persistence layer, enabling use of relational or non-relational data sources ^{[14] [15]}
• 1-to-1 mapping of BPMN model to executable instruction set
• Simplified execution tree, enabling easier analysis and manipulation of in-flight processes
• Single agenda for process execution plans
• Queue-based job execution ^[16]
• Ad hoc Sub Processes ^[17]
• Dynamic process execution ^[18]

References

1. Flowable 7.2.0 downloads
2. Flowable 6.8.1 downloads
3. Flowable 5 downloads
4. Joram Barrez (2016-10-17). "Announcing Flowable". Small steps with big feet. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
5. Jeff Potts (2016-10-15). "Activiti founders fork the project to create Flowable, an open source BPM engine". Enterprise Architect. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
6. Sandy Kemsley (2016-10-20). "Another rift in the open source BPM market: @FlowableBPM forks from @Alfresco Activiti". Enterprise Irregulars. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
7. Flowable Team (2016-10-12). "Flowable and Activiti: What the Fork?!". Flowable. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
8. Joram Barrez (2016-09-01). "How to use transient variables". Small steps with big feet. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
9. Flowable Team (2017-02-15). "Flowable 6.0.0 release". Flowable Project. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
10. Tijs Rademakers (2023-04-13). "New Flowable Modeling tool". Flowable Forum. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
11. Valentin Zickner (2023-06-20). "Unveiling the new Flowable Design: A closer Look". Flowable Blog. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
12. Tijs Rademakers (2016-08-31). "Activiti 6.0.0.Beta3 released". BPMN 2.0 / Flowable. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
13. Joram Barrez (2015-09-08). "An Evolution of the Core Engine". Small steps with big feet. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
14. Joram Barrez (2016-11-02). "Running Flowable on CockroachDB". Small steps with big feet. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
15. Joram Barrez (2018-08-13). "Running Flowable on MongoDB". Flowable Blog. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
16. Joram Barrez (2016-07-20). "Benchmarking the message queue based Activiti Async Executor". Small steps with big feet. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
17. Tijs Rademakers (2016-02-10). "Activiti 6 adds ad-hoc sub process support". BPMN 2.0 / Flowable. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
18. Paul Holmes-Higgin (2017-04-20). "BPMNext 2017: Making Business Processes Dance". BPMNext. Retrieved 2017-05-09.