Home › Docs › Migration › Activiti

Migrate from Activiti to Priostack

Last updated: 2026-04-06 · 10 min read

Concept Mapping

BPMN Namespace Changes

Activiti uses the activiti: namespace for extensions. Replace with zeebe:. The snippets below are fragments: paste them inside a <definitions> element that declares xmlns:zeebe="http://camunda.org/schema/zeebe/1.0".

Before (Activiti):

<serviceTask id="send-email" name="Send Email"
  activiti:class="com.example.SendEmailDelegate">
  <extensionElements>
    <activiti:field name="to" expression="${order.email}" />
  </extensionElements>
</serviceTask>

After (Priostack):

<serviceTask id="send-email" name="Send Email">
  <extensionElements>
    <zeebe:taskDefinition type="send-email" />
  </extensionElements>
</serviceTask>

Migration Steps

Step 1 - Export all process and form definitions

Export .bpmn20.xml or .bpmn files from your Activiti workspace. If you use Activiti Designer (Eclipse plugin) or Activiti Modeler, export using "Save As BPMN 2.0 XML".

Step 2 - Strip Java delegate references

Use find-and-replace to remove Activiti-specific attributes. The key patterns to remove or replace:

# Patterns to remove / replace in your .bpmn files:
activiti:class="..."         → remove (replace task with zeebe:taskDefinition)
activiti:expression="..."    → remove
activiti:formKey="..."        → remove (use task variables instead)
activiti:assignee="..."       → remove (set via variable in worker output)
activiti:candidateGroups="..." → remove

Step 3 - Deploy to Priostack

curl -X POST "https://priostack.com/api/v1/process-definitions?resourceName=order-process.bpmn" \
  -H "X-API-Key: ps_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  --data-binary @order-process.bpmn

This route deploys BPMN only and is free. It answers 200 with a deployments array; a model that does not parse answers 422.

Step 4 - Implement REST workers (replaces JavaDelegate)

Each JavaDelegate class becomes a polling worker. Worker in Node.js example:

const headers = { 'X-API-Key': 'ps_...', 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };

// poll for jobs of type "send-email" (the answer comes back at once)
const resp = await fetch('https://priostack.com/api/v1/jobs/activate', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({ type: 'send-email', worker: 'mailer-1', maxJobsToActivate: 5 })
});
if (!resp.ok) throw new Error(`activate failed: ${resp.status}`);
const { jobs } = await resp.json();  // [] when nothing waits: sleep 1 to 5 s, then poll again

for (const job of jobs) {
  const to = job.variables.order.email;  // every job carries all instance variables
  await sendEmail(to);  // your business logic

  const done = await fetch(`https://priostack.com/api/v1/jobs/${job.key}/complete`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers,
    body: JSON.stringify({ variables: { emailSent: true } })
  });
  if (!done.ok) throw new Error(`complete ${job.key} failed: ${done.status}`);  // success is 204
}

Step 5 - Handle User Tasks

Activiti's Tasklist UI is replaced by Priostack's /tasklist or your own UI calling the tasks API:

# Get open tasks for a user
GET /api/v1/tasks

# Complete a task (1 credit on this route)
POST /api/v1/tasks/{taskId}/complete
Content-Type: application/json
{"variables":{"approved":true,"reviewNote":"Looks good"}}

Step 6 - Remove Spring ProcessEngine wiring

Remove camunda-bpm-spring-boot-starter or activiti-spring from your pom.xml/build.gradle. Your workers only need an HTTP client.

Timer / Boundary Events

Activiti timer events use ISO 8601 duration syntax - the same format Priostack expects:

<!-- 3-day SLA timer - same syntax in both engines -->
<boundaryEvent id="sla-timer" attachedToRef="review-task" cancelActivity="true">
  <timerEventDefinition>
    <timeDuration>PT72H</timeDuration>
  </timerEventDefinition>
</boundaryEvent>

Unsupported Activiti Features

← Camunda 7 Migration · Flowable Migration Guide →