canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/camunda.com/camunda

# Camunda Orchestration Cluster API

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Orchestration Cluster API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Camunda 8 Orchestration Cluster API is the REST gateway for interacting with a running Camunda cluster - deploying process and decision definitions, starting and managing process instances, completing user tasks, publishing messages and signals, resolving incidents, and querying audit and job data. The surface covers 151 paths across 35 resources including process-definition, process-instance, user-task, decision-definition, incident, batch-operation, and tenant management.

## For AI agents

Drive a Camunda 8 cluster: deploy BPMN and DMN resources, start and search process instances, complete user tasks, publish messages, and resolve incidents.

## Scope

Does not handle BPMN modelling, Camunda Operate UI navigation, or Camunda Cloud account provisioning - use for runtime orchestration of a deployed Camunda 8 cluster only.

## Capabilities

- Deploy BPMN process and DMN decision definitions to a Camunda 8 cluster via /resources
- Start, search, cancel, and modify process instances via /process-instances and /process-instances/search
- Claim, assign, and complete user tasks via the /user-tasks resource
- Publish messages and signals to running process instances via /messages and /signals
- Resolve and search incidents that block process execution via /incidents
- Run batch operations across many process instances via /batch-operations
- Manage authorization, roles, groups, users, and tenants for cluster access control

## Use cases

### Process Orchestration for AI Agent Workflows

Engineering teams encoding multi-step agent workflows in BPMN can use the Orchestration Cluster API to deploy the diagram, start instances when a user request arrives, and complete user tasks as steps finish. The /process-instances and /user-tasks resources expose the lifecycle controls needed to embed Camunda as the durable state machine behind an agent.

Example prompt: POST /process-instances to start a 'customer-onboarding' process with the new customer's email as a variable, then POST to /user-tasks/{userTaskKey}/completion when each manual step is finished.

### Incident Monitoring and Recovery

Operations teams monitoring long-running business processes need to spot stuck instances and recover them without manual database edits. The /incidents resource lists open incidents, /incidents/{incidentKey}/resolution clears them once root cause is fixed, and /process-instances/search filters by state to surface processes blocked by incidents.

Example prompt: GET /incidents/search filtered by errorType, resolve each by calling /incidents/{incidentKey}/resolution, and report the count of incidents cleared.

### Message Correlation for Event-Driven Processes

Event-driven Camunda processes wait at message catch events until a correlated message arrives. The /messages publication endpoint lets external services push correlation messages by name and key, advancing waiting instances without polling.

Example prompt: POST /messages with name='payment-received' and correlationKey=order-id to advance the matching process instance past its message catch event.

### AI Agent Process Workflows via Jentic

Through Jentic, an agent searches for 'start a process instance', loads the input schema for /process-instances, and executes the call without managing bearer or basic credentials. Jentic's vault holds the cluster credential and injects it at execution time, keeping cluster access tightly scoped.

Example prompt: Use the Jentic SDK to search 'start a process instance', load the /process-instances operation schema, and execute it with the BPMN process ID and a variable map.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| POST | /process-instances | Start a new process instance |
| POST | /process-instances/search | Search for process instances |
| POST | /user-tasks/search | Search user tasks across the cluster |
| POST | /messages/publication | Publish a message for correlation |
| POST | /incidents/search | Search incidents in the cluster |
| POST | /resources/deployment | Deploy BPMN and DMN resources |
| POST | /jobs/activation | Activate jobs for an external task worker |

## Key resources

- **Process definition** — Manage and query deployed BPMN process definitions
- **Process instance** — Start, search, cancel, and modify running process instances
- **User task** — Claim, assign, complete, and search user tasks in the cluster
- **Decision definition** — Manage DMN decision definitions and evaluate decisions
- **Incident** — List, resolve, and analyse incidents blocking process execution
- **Job** — Activate and complete jobs assigned to external task workers
- **Message** — Publish messages to correlate with waiting process instances
- **Batch operation** — Run bulk operations across many process instances
- **Authorization** — Manage roles, groups, users, mapping rules, and tenants

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Orchestration Cluster API by hand means resolving your cluster's schema, host, and port template, choosing between Bearer JWT and Basic auth, and finding the right runtime routes across 151 operations. Through Jentic you install once, import the Camunda Orchestration Cluster API from the API Directory, store the credential once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** This API takes process, task, and message inputs in the request body rather than as a resource in the URL path, so limit the agent to the operations it needs, such as searching process instances and user tasks. You choose the operations it may call, so state-changing ones like creating process instances or activating jobs are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Camunda cluster credential, whether a Basic password or a Bearer JWT, is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected into the Authorization header at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'start a process instance' or 'search for open user tasks', and Jentic returns the matching Camunda operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **GitHub REST API** — GitHub triggers code-driven events that often kick off Camunda workflows for code review, deployment, or release orchestration.
- **Slack Web API** — Slack delivers user-task notifications and approvals back to Camunda processes that wait on human decisions.
- **Jira Cloud API** — Jira issues frequently represent the human side of work that Camunda processes orchestrate end to end.

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Orchestration Cluster API?

Camunda does not publish a single consolidated OpenAPI specification for the v2 Orchestration Cluster REST API. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Camunda 8 via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the Orchestration Cluster API use?

It supports HTTP Basic auth and HTTP Bearer auth with a JWT. Self-managed clusters typically use Basic; Camunda 8 SaaS uses a JWT obtained from its OAuth provider. Through Jentic, the credential is held in your Jentic One instance and injected into the Authorization header at execution time so it never enters the agent's prompt context.

### Can I start a process instance through Jentic?

Yes. Search 'start a process instance' through the Jentic SDK. Jentic returns POST /process-instances with its input schema. Provide the BPMN processDefinitionKey or processDefinitionId and a variable map to begin execution.

### How do I complete a user task assigned to a human?

Call the user-task completion endpoint under /user-tasks/{userTaskKey} with the variables to be set on completion. Use /user-tasks/search first to find the task by assignee, candidate group, or process instance key.

### What is the base URL of the API?

The base URL is configurable via server variables: {schema}://{host}:{port}/v2, defaulting to http://localhost:8080/v2 for self-managed clusters. Camunda 8 SaaS replaces these with the cluster-specific gateway URL provided in the Console.

### Can the API publish messages to running process instances?

Yes. POST to the /messages publication endpoint with a message name and correlation key. Camunda routes the message to any waiting message catch events in process instances whose correlation key matches.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Orchestration Cluster API?

Yes. Because you self-host Jentic One, your own rules decide which of the 151 Orchestration Cluster operations the agent may call, so you can grant it read-only actions like searching process instances, user tasks, or incidents while excluding everything else. State-changing operations such as starting a process instance, completing a user task, publishing a message, or activating jobs are only available if you explicitly add them. The cluster credential, whether a Basic password or a Bearer JWT, is stored by your Jentic One instance and injected at execution time, so it never reaches the agent's prompt or logs.