Task

Send Task

Throws a named message and continues immediately (fire-and-continue). If a Receive Task, Message Catch Event, or Message Start Event is waiting with a matching name and correlation key, the message is delivered; otherwise it is dropped.

Properties

Property	Type	Required	Description
ID	string	yes	Unique element identifier
Name	string	yes	Display label
Message Name	string	yes	Must match the target element’s message name
Correlation Key Expression	FEEL	no	Expression evaluated to the correlation key value (e.g. `orderId`)

How Message Delivery Works

The Send Task evaluates the Correlation Key Expression against current process variables to get the correlation key value
It scans for event subscriptions with a matching message_name and correlation_key
If found, the waiting token is activated; if not found, the message is silently dropped
The sending token continues immediately regardless

XML Example

<bpmn:sendTask id="notify_warehouse" name="Notify Warehouse">
  <bpmn:messageEventDefinition messageRef="msg_ship_order"/>
  <bpmn:extensionElements>
    <conduit:correlationKey>orderId</conduit:correlationKey>
  </bpmn:extensionElements>
  <bpmn:incoming>flow_to_notify</bpmn:incoming>
  <bpmn:outgoing>flow_after_notify</bpmn:outgoing>
</bpmn:sendTask>

<bpmn:message id="msg_ship_order" name="ShipOrder"/>

Notes

The send task does not wait for a reply — use a Receive Task immediately after if you need to wait
For external-initiated messages (from your application rather than from another process element), use POST /api/v1/messages directly
Correlation key expressions use FEEL: orderId is a variable reference; "literal-value" is a string