Activiti is an
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
workflow engine A workflow engine is a software application that manages business processes. It is a key component in workflow technology and typically makes use of a database server.
A workflow engine manages and monitors the state of activities in a workflow, su ...
written in
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
that can execute business processes described in
BPMN 2.0.
Activiti is the foundation for
Alfresco's Alfresco Process Services (APS)
and Alfresco is the Activiti project's leading sponsor.
History
In March 2010, Tom Baeyens and Joram Barrez, two key developers for
jBPM left
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...
and started Activiti as employees of
Alfresco. Activiti is based on their workflow experience with jBPM, but is a new code base, not based on any previous jBPM
code
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...
.
The first version of Activiti was 5.0, to indicate that product is the continuation of experience they gained via jBPM 1 through 4.
In October 2016, Barrez, Rademakers (author of Activiti in Action) and other contributors left Alfresco. The departing developers
forked the Activiti code to start a new project called
Flowable.
In February 2017, a new commercial version of Activiti was released and rebranded as Alfresco Process Services.
In May 2017, Activiti released version 6.0.0
with new support for ad hoc sub processes and a new application user interface.
Components
The project is a suite of applications that work together:
* Modeler, a web-based graphical workflow authoring interface
* Designer, an
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...
plug-in for developing workflows
* Engine, the core workflow processor
* Explorer, a web tool to deploy process definitions, start new process instances and carry-out work on workflows
* Cycle, a web app for collaboration between business users and software engineers
Alternative modeling GUI
The ''Yaoqiang BPMN Editor'' (
FLOSS,
GPLv3
The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...
) can connect to the Activiti engine and thus can be used as a graphical workflow authoring interface, as an alternative to ''Activiti Modeler''.
The DocuBrain Workflow Editor is a standalone BPMN 2.0 compliant workflow editor that can be used to create and edit generic BPMN processes. The editor supports direct connections to Activiti as well as all of Activiti's customization (such as Activiti specific element attributes, Activiti specific tasks like Camel Task, Mule Task, etc.).
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.activiti.org/
Workflow applications
Java enterprise platform
Java (programming language) libraries
Cross-platform free software
Free software programmed in Java (programming language)
Free business software