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Flowable

PM
Velocity0.0

Business process management and workflow engine for Java

flowable.com ↗

Flowable ships once a year and spends it on the Java platform, not on the process engine.

bpmn-cmmnspring-boot-upgradesbreaking-changesengine-only-scopeannual-majors
◆Current state
Flowable's release history is a slow major-version cadence — 7.0.0 in 2023, 7.1.0 in 2024, 7.2.0 in 2025, 8.0.0 in February 2026 — and each major is anchored to a Java-ecosystem jump rather than to process modelling itself. Flowable 8 moves to Spring Framework 7 and Spring Boot 4, makes Jackson 3 the default, and removes JUnit 3 and JUnit 4 support outright. The engine-level additions that do arrive, like lambda expressions in expressions, are incremental extensions to BPMN and CMMN semantics.
◆Where it's heading
This is a project whose roadmap is largely set by the platform underneath it. Each major forces a coordinated upgrade on adopters — Java 17 and Jakarta 9 at 7.0.0, Spring Boot 4 and Jackson 3 at 8.0.0 — and in exchange delivers query, variable and migration refinements aimed at large existing deployments. The 7.0.0 decision to drop the UI applications and the content, form and Mule modules set the pattern: narrow to the engines and the REST APIs, and let everything else go.
◆Prediction
Expect the next major to track the following Spring and Java LTS jump on roughly the same annual rhythm. Nothing in these entries points to an AI or agent-facing direction, so any such move would be a genuine departure rather than a continuation.

◆Recent moves

  1. 5mo ago

    Spring Boot 4 and Jackson 3 required; JUnit 4 support removed

    ⚡ SPARK

    The 2026 major, and a forced migration: Spring Boot 3 support ends, Jackson 3 becomes the default JSON library, and JUnit 3 and 4 testing support is removed. Consistent with the pattern where each Flowable major is a platform jump carrying a modest set of engine features.

    View source ↗
  2. 11mo ago

    Async variables, skip expressions and broader query filters

    A query- and variable-focused release: asynchronous variable setting for BPMN and CMMN, skip expressions on receive and send-event tasks, local variables during case migration, and several new query filters. Refinements aimed squarely at large existing deployments rather than new adopters.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    Liquibase dropped from App, CMMN, DMN and event registry engines

    Liquibase is removed from the App, CMMN, DMN and event registry engines in favour of manual SQL files, aligning them with the engines that had already made that move, plus SQL Server nvarchar indexing improvements. Schema-management consolidation, the kind of work that only matters at operational scale.

    View source ↗
  4. 2y ago

    Bug-fix release adding async leave and LocalDate timers

    A bug-fix release that also adds async leave, string-collection mail recipients and LocalDate timer expressions. Maintenance on the 6.x line running alongside the 7.x platform work.

    View source ↗
  5. 2y ago

    Spring Boot 3.1.6 support and dynamic event subscriptions

    A minor release adding Spring Boot 3.1.6 support, dynamically created event subscriptions for starting cases or processes, and inbound channel filter classes. Incremental extension of the event registry between majors.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    Java 17 rebase; UI apps, content and form engines removed

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release that defined Flowable's current shape: a Spring Boot 3, Spring 6 and Java 17 rebase that also narrowed the product to the BPMN, CMMN, DMN and event registry engines plus REST APIs. The scope reduction here is why later releases read as engine-only.

    View source ↗