FAQ

Operaton is a community-driven, free, and open-source BPMN engine.

BPMN stands for Business Process Model and Notation. It is a graphical representation for specifying business processes in a business process model.

Operaton is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.

Yes, several companies and government services are using Operaton in production. Companies providing Software products running on Operaton are listed on the Service Providers and Hub pages. For references to not publicly visible projects using Operaton e.g. in FinTech or other specific branches contact members of the Operaton team or Service Providers.

Operaton was created as a fork of Camunda 7 CE to provide an open, community-driven alternative after the end of life of Camunda 7 CE in October 2025.

Operaton is maintained by an open-source community. Unlike proprietary BPMN solutions, no single company controls its direction.

Operaton started as a fork of Camunda 7, but it is evolving as an independent project. Initially, the focus is on providing a seamless transition for Camunda 7 users, ensuring full REST API compatibility while modernizing certain aspects of the codebase. Internally, the package namespace changed from org.camunda to org.operaton. All public classes and interfaces have been renamed accordingly and stay as close to the original as possible.

Operaton is not the only fork of Camunda 7. However, it is unique in its commitment to community ownership and modernization of the code base. While Operaton is a Free Open Source Software (FOSS) project, other forks may primarily be driven by commercial interests. While they might also have their code available under an open-source license, they follow an Open Core model. There is no guarantee that the community can influence the direction of these projects.

Yes. Operaton is free and open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. There are no license fees, no usage limits, and no commercial tier — you can use Operaton in production, including for commercial purposes, at no cost.

Yes. While Operaton itself is free, an international network of independent service providers offers paid services — consulting, implementation, migration from Camunda 7, training, and long-term maintenance with SLAs. See the Service Providers page for the full list.

Listed service providers offer consulting and architecture, implementation and custom development, migration from Camunda 7 CE, training and enablement, and long-term support with SLAs. Coverage spans Europe, the UK, the Americas, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.

Browse the Service Providers page and filter by service type, country, and area of operation. Providers are independent companies; you engage with them directly.

The primary goal for now is a seamless transition from Camunda 7 to Operaton. This means that version 1.x will prioritize stability and compatible REST API. The necessary package renaming is a breaking change, but Operaton will offer migration guides and tools to help users make the switch. Further breaking changes, if necessary, will only come in version 2.x or later. This includes also removal of deprecated API.

No. Major rewrites or architectural overhauls are not planned for the 1.x versions. However, basic web applications will be rewritten, legacy containers will be dropped, and the codebase will be modernized—without breaking compatibility.

Once a stable and reliable foundation is established, the community will collaboratively plan future features and enhancements for later versions.

Operaton requires a JVM >= 17. Java 17, 21, and 25 are tested per release — see the compatibility matrix on the Roadmap.

You have three options: embed the engine in your Java application (Spring Boot, Quarkus, Jakarta EE), use the standalone distribution, or use the official Docker images. See the Download page.

Yes. Official Docker images are published for each release. See the Download page.

Yes. A Helm chart is maintained at operaton/operaton-helm.

PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2 for production use; H2 for development. Operaton uses the same database schema as Camunda 7 CE. Supported database versions per release are listed on the Roadmap.

The Hub is a community platform for sharing Operaton solutions, extensions, and integrations.

A dedicated Operaton Modeler is in active development at operaton/operaton-modeler. In the meantime, Camunda Modeler remains fully compatible for designing BPMN diagrams and deploying them to Operaton.

Yes. The Operaton MCP server lets AI agents interact with the engine — deploying processes and decisions, managing instances, querying history, and working with tasks. See operaton/operaton-mcp.

Yes. LLMs can be invoked from service tasks and decisions. A working example is the candidate-screening use case at operaton-examples.

Operaton is a true community-driven initiative, meaning that active contributors shape the direction of the project. Governance is still forming, and contributors have the opportunity to define its structure.

There are plans to establish a non-profit organization to manage key decisions. However, governance will remain open—no single company will be able to dictate the project’s direction against the interests of the community.

By actively contributing! The more you and your team engage with the project—through code contributions, governance discussions, or infrastructure support—the more you help shape its future.

Gaining committer status requires meaningful contributions over time. Once a contributor has earned the trust of the community, they can be promoted to a committer. At the moment, the process is quite open — just start contributing!

Yes! All discussions and decisions are public. If you have questions, we encourage you to ask them in the Forum rather than in private.

Half-yearly feature releases (April and October), monthly patch releases for the current major/minor, and monthly milestone previews from main. See the Roadmap for the live schedule.

Each major/minor is supported for 6 months, until the next major/minor ships. The compatibility matrix on the Roadmap shows the current support timelines per version.

Operaton itself does not offer a traditional LTS line; the rolling 6-month support window is the model. Listed Service Providers can offer extended maintenance and SLAs for organizations that need long-term stability.

The 2.x line is the active development line; 1.x continues to receive patch releases per the Roadmap. Operaton aims to evolve with backward-compatible changes where possible, while modernizing the platform over time.

Operaton follows security best practices, including authentication, authorization, and encrypted database connections.

Yes, Operaton supports authentication via OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and LDAP by engine plugins.

Operaton follows a security policy that includes vulnerability management, responsible disclosure, and best practices for open-source security.

Yes, Operaton provides Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) to help users understand the dependencies and security of the software they are using. The SBOMs are delivered in the provided distributions.

Yes! Operaton is designed to provide smooth transition for Camunda 7 CE. For the case that minor adjustments are required they will be documented extensively in our migration guide.

Yes. The 1.x versions of Operaton prioritize full compatibility with Camunda 7. Your BPMN models, process definitions, and execution logic will continue to work without changes.

The migration process is straightforward: 1. Upgrade to Camunda 7 CE version 7.24, which is the latest release before its end of life. 2. Update your application dependencies to use Operaton instead of Camunda 7 CE. 3. Replace the Camunda 7 CE libraries with Operaton equivalents in your build system (Maven, Gradle, etc.). 4. Verify compatibility with your existing database schema. 5. Run tests to ensure process execution behaves as expected.

See the Camunda to Operaton Migration Guide for full details.

Operaton keeps the same database schema as Camunda 7 CE, so no database migration is required when switching.

Yes. The migrate-from-camunda-recipe is an OpenRewrite recipe that automates dependency updates and the org.camunda → org.operaton package renaming across Maven/Gradle projects.

Yes, you can continue using Camunda Modeler to design BPMN diagrams and deploy them to Operaton.

Operaton does support the same plugin mechanism as Camunda 7 CE. However, since namespaces have changed, the plugins will require small rewrites to use the Operaton API.

Yes. Operaton itself is free, but several listed Service Providers offer paid migration services — from assessment and tooling-assisted dependency updates to full hands-on migration projects. See the Commercial Support & Services section above for details.

You can join the Operaton community by participating in the Forum or the Chat (Slack).

You can report a bug by creating an issue on our GitHub repository.

There are many ways to contribute to Operaton. You can contribute code, report bugs, write documentation, help others in the community, or spread the word. For more information, see our Contribution Guidelines.

Operaton is tested using a combination of unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests. The project follows a test-driven development (TDD) approach to ensure high code quality. There are currently over 25.000 automated tests in place, covering a wide range of scenarios.

Operaton follows a strict code review process to ensure that all code changes are reviewed by at least one other developer. The project also uses SonarCloud for static code analysis to identify potential issues early in the development process.

No! While version 1.x ensures compatibility, Operaton will evolve over time to introduce modern features. The goal is not just to replicate Camunda 7 CE, but to build a long-lasting open-source BPMN engine.

By contributing! If you join and participate, you help decide the project’s direction.