# flowable/flowable-engine

A compact and highly efficient workflow and Business Process Management (BPM) platform for developers, system admins and business users.

Repository: https://github.com/flowable/flowable-engine
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/flowable-engine
Homepage: https://www.flowable.org
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: bpmn, java, workflow, workflow-engine
Last push: 2026-08-26T15:24:39+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 79/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 40, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3611, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 187, "gap_med": 253.5, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 9493, forks 2882 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:31.448228+00:00)

## What it is
Flowable is an open-source Java workflow and Business Process Management (BPM) platform providing fast BPMN process, CMMN case, and DMN rule engines. It can run embedded in a Java application or as a standalone service on a server, cluster, or cloud, with rich Java and REST APIs and tight Spring integration.

## Use cases
- orchestrate human and system tasks in business processes
- embed a BPMN process engine in a Spring Boot application
- model and execute case management workflows with CMMN
- evaluate business rules with a DMN decision engine
- automate approval and document workflows in the enterprise
- run a workflow engine as a REST service in Docker or the cloud

## When to choose
- you need a battle-tested, standards-compliant BPMN/CMMN/DMN engine on the JVM
- you want to embed workflow orchestration directly into a Java or Spring application
- you need both human task management and system-to-system process automation
- you prefer Apache 2.0 licensed open source with an active community

## When to avoid
- you need a low-code visual designer, reporting, or enterprise security - those are paid Flowable features
- your stack is not JVM-based and you cannot run a Java service
- you only need simple job scheduling or event-driven automation without process modeling
- you require guaranteed high availability and scalability, which the community edition does not support

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: stable
- function: workflow-automation, api-framework, http-server, sdk, middleware
- domain: backend, developer-tools, apis, erp
- platform: jvm, cloud, self-hosted, cross-platform
- tags: bpmn, cmmn, dmn, business-process-management, workflow-engine, spring-integration, rest-api, process-automation, case-management, rules-engine, automation, docker

## Member repositories
- flowable/flowable-engine (main) score 79

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:31.448228+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:22:02.382787+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/flowable/flowable-engine (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:31.448228+00:00, sha 9302e5e07a11)
  - homepage: https://www.flowable.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.648617+00:00, sha 86ff992434ab)
  - site_page: https://www.flowable.com/open-source/docs/oss-introduction (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.654549+00:00, sha 0a154c88582e)
  - site_page: https://www.flowable.com/getting-started-open-source (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.656860+00:00, sha 06fa5af6a671)
  - site_page: https://documentation.flowable.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.661369+00:00, sha 01bd501d0aed)
  - site_page: https://www.flowable.com/company/about (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.663422+00:00, sha e3d0d6e637a8)
  - site_page: https://www.flowable.com/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.651604+00:00, sha 745caeeb3b39)
  - site_page: https://www.flowable.com/product/platform/connectors (fetched 2026-08-29T08:22:02.659171+00:00, sha 94ed73b148de)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.