Camunda Job Workers

Camunda Job Workers

Implement job workers for Camunda 8.8+ in Java, Camunda Spring Boot, or TypeScript. A job worker is the handler that the Zeebe engine hands an activated job to — it runs business logic, then signals success, failure, or a BPMN error back to the engine.

Prerequisites

• Camunda 8.8+ cluster reachable from the worker process (local c8run, SaaS, or Self-Managed — see camunda-c8ctl)
• A BPMN process with at least one element that has <zeebe:taskDefinition type="..."/> matching the worker's job type (see camunda-bpmn)
• Toolchain for the chosen SDK — OpenJDK 17+ and Maven/Gradle for Java and Spring; Node.js 18+ for TypeScript. SDK-specific version constraints (e.g. Spring Boot 4 vs 3, browser support) are in each SDK's reference. See camunda-development for installing these locally.

Cross-References

• camunda-development: Use first to decide whether a worker is the right shape at all (vs. an OOTB connector, a JSON-only protocol-connector template, or a custom Java connector via the SDK)
• camunda-connectors-development: Use when the integration is closer to a reusable Java connector than to application-bound worker code, or when the integration needs inbound triggers (workers are outbound-only)
• camunda-bpmn: Use for the service-task / receive-task element and its zeebe:taskDefinition, plus the boundary events that catch the worker's BPMN errors
• camunda-feel: Use for FEEL in zeebe:taskHeaders and for the gateway conditions that consume the worker's output variables
• camunda-process-mgmt: Use for deploying the process, starting instances against the running worker, and inspecting jobs / incidents from the cluster side
• camunda-process-test: Use for end-to-end tests that drive worker handlers through an embedded Zeebe engine

When to write a job worker

Walk camunda-development first. The short version of the matrix as it applies here:

• Non-Java stack (TypeScript, plus any other official SDK in scope for a future release): worker is the path. Connectors are Java-only.
• Java stack, logic already lives in the app: worker keeps the logic in the codebase that owns it.
• Java stack, reusable across processes / projects / clusters: prefer a custom connector via camunda-connectors-development.
• Inbound triggers (an external system pushes events into a process): always a connector — workers exclusively pull activated jobs from the engine.

Job lifecycle

A worker's contract with the engine has four states:

1. Activate — the worker requests jobs of a given type (polling) or receives them on a streamed connection. Each activation has a timeout (the lease the engine grants before it will hand the same job to another worker if the first doesn't respond) and a fetch-variables list (which process variables the engine ships with the job).
2. Handle — the worker runs the handler code with the activated job (variables, headers, retries remaining, key).
3. Complete — the worker calls complete (or returns a value with autoComplete=true). The engine merges the worker's output variables into the process scope and advances the token. Variables propagate from the job's scope up to the enclosing scopes per BPMN rules.
4. Fail — the worker either calls fail explicitly with a remaining-retries count and an optional back-off, or throws. If retries reach zero, the engine raises an incident and the instance pauses until an operator resolves it (see camunda-process-mgmt).

Activation timeout vs. retries are independent. A timeout means the engine reassigns the job without decrementing retries; a fail with retries left means the same job will be redelivered after the back-off. Long-running handlers should extend the timeout via UpdateJobTimeout rather than racing the lease.

Idempotency — handle every job at least twice

The engine's at-least-once delivery guarantees that a handler may run more than once for the same job.key. Activation timeouts, network blips, and retries after a failed complete call all cause redelivery. Handlers must be idempotent.

Two patterns work well:

• Idempotency token in your downstream system. Use job.key (or a deterministic value derived from process variables) as a request id / Idempotency-Key header / database unique constraint. A retry of the same job hits the same key and is suppressed.
• Check-before-write. Query the downstream system for the side effect's marker before applying it. Cheap when the system supports it; not always available.

Storing local "has this job ran?" state in the worker process is not idempotency — the process can crash, scale out, or be replaced.

Failure modes — three distinct paths

The choice depends on whether the failure is a transient infrastructure problem, a modelled business outcome, or an unexpected programming error:

1. Transient failure → fail with retries and back-off. Network timeout, downstream 5xx, broker unreachable. The handler decrements retries and asks the engine to redeliver after a back-off. Reaching zero retries raises an incident.

2. Business outcome → BPMN error. The handler succeeded in identifying a failure modelled in the BPMN — payment declined, inventory empty, license rejected. Throw a BPMN error with a code that an error boundary event (or error end event in a subprocess) catches. The job is not retried — the engine takes the error path.

3. Programming error → unhandled exception. A NullPointerException, an unhandled promise rejection, a type error. SDKs fall back to fail-with-zero-back-off — the engine redelivers immediately, burns retries, and raises an incident. Never use unhandled exceptions as a control-flow signal: the zero back-off thrashes the cluster, and a future SDK change could redefine the default.

The SDK-specific call signatures (CamundaError.jobError / CamundaError.bpmnError for Spring, newFailCommand / newThrowErrorCommand for the Java client, job.fail / job.error for TypeScript) are in the per-SDK references.

Auto-complete vs. explicit complete

The Camunda Spring Boot Starter's @JobWorker auto-completes by default: the handler's return value is serialised as the job's output variables. Set autoComplete = false when the handler needs to call complete itself (conditional variables, asynchronous response, ownership transfer).

The Java client and TypeScript SDK do not auto-complete — the handler must call complete, fail, or error on every code path. Missing a terminal call leaks the job's lease until activation timeout.

Pick an SDK

Spring Boot 4 vs. 3 — high-stakes routing

The default Camunda Spring Boot Starter (camunda-spring-boot-starter) is bundled with and requires Spring Boot 4.0.x.

Applications still on Spring Boot 3.5.x use camunda-spring-boot-3-starter as a migration bridge — Spring's OSS support for the 3.5.x line ends June 2026. Don't mix the two starters on one classpath: the SB4 starter won't start on a Spring Boot 3 app, and the SB3 starter pulls conflicting transitive deps into a Spring Boot 4 app.

All starter modules require OpenJDK 17+.

Common pitfalls

• Forgetting to complete / fail / error a job (Java client, TypeScript). The lease times out and the engine redelivers. Handlers must hit exactly one terminal call on every code path. Spring's autoComplete = true covers happy-path returns; failure paths still need an explicit signal.
• Treating unhandled exceptions as BPMN errors. An unhandled throw is a programming error, not a modelled outcome. SDKs fail the job with retries - 1 and retryBackoff = 0 — the engine redelivers immediately, burns retries, and raises an incident.
• Storing "already processed" state in the worker process. Crashes and scale-out erase it. Idempotency belongs in the downstream system or in process variables that survive redelivery.
• Polling and request-timeout misalignment. The activation request timeout must be shorter than the gateway / load-balancer cutoff, otherwise the worker tears the connection down and reconnects in a loop. SDK defaults are sensible — change them deliberately.

References

For SDK-specific detail, read from references/:

• worker-sdk-java.md — camunda-client-java: client bootstrap, JobWorkerBuilder, command builders, streaming, multi-tenancy, OAuth config
• worker-sdk-spring.md — Camunda Spring Boot Starter: @JobWorker parameter reference, @Variable / @VariablesAsType, CamundaError, configuration property tree, Spring Boot 4 vs 3 starter selection
• worker-sdk-typescript.md — @camunda8/orchestration-cluster-api: createJobWorker / createThreadedJobWorker, job-handler return shapes, when to fall back to @camunda8/sdk