Announcing Flows for APEX v26.1

Autonomous AI Workflows. Smarter Case Management. Shipping May 2026.

UpdatedMay 12, 2026

Richard Allen is an Oracle veteran and founder of Flowquest, the company behind the Enterprise Edition of Flows for APEX. He specializes in workflow and process automation using Oracle APEX and is one of the principal architects and developers of Flows for APEX, the open-source BPMN 2.0 workflow engine for APEX used by organizations around the world. Richard is an Oracle ACE Pro. Richard is a two-time Oracle alumnus. In the 1990s, he led security development for Oracle7 and Trusted Oracle7. More recently, he contributed to Flows for APEX and APEX Human Tasks as part of the Oracle APEX Development Team. Now based in London and Singapore, Richard leads the ongoing development of both the open-source and enterprise editions of Flows for APEX through Flowquest, supporting customers building process-driven applications on the Oracle APEX platform. He has lived and worked in the UK, US, and Asia.

Comments

Join the discussion

No comments yet. Be the first to comment.

Flows for APEX v26.1

Part 1 of 1

All about what's new in Flows for APEX v26.1, releasing in May 2026.

More from this blog

Schema Annotations with Database 19c

Why Adding Schema Annotations to Oracle 19c Is Not Straightforward

Jun 4, 20266 min read

Flows for APEX v25.1: Working even Better with APEX Human Tasks

Oracle introduced the APEX Approval Task in APEX 22.1, extended it to non-approval Human Tasks with Action Tasks in APEX 23.2, and has enhanced the overall functionality of APEX Human Tasks in each APEX release. Flows for APEX, the BPMN process model...

Oct 15, 202513 min read

Flows for APEX v25.1: Working even Better with APEX Human Tasks

Flows for APEX - Statement of Direction (June 2025)

Flows for APEX v25.1 and Beyond The Flows for APEX team is currently finalizing version 25.1, which will be available this summer in both Community and Enterprise Editions. This release introduces sig

Jun 13, 20254 min read

Flows for APEX - Statement of Direction (June 2025)

Flows for APEX: Setting Process Variables from a PL/SQL Script Task

Several BPMN task types allow you to define the task using PL/SQL - these include BPMN Service Tasks, Script Tasks, Business Rule Tasks, and Send Tasks. This raises the question - ‘How do you set process variables from inside your PL/SQL script?’ Ins...

Mar 25, 20253 min read

Flows for APEX: Setting Process Variables from a PL/SQL Script Task

All about Flows for APEX

8 posts

Richard Allen's blog on Flows for APEX and related technologies - including Oracle and Oracle APEX.

We are excited to announce Flows for APEX v26.1 - the most significant release of the Flows for APEX BPMN-based business process modeling and workflow project. This release brings autonomous agentic AI directly into your Oracle APEX workflow processes, introduces flexible case management for knowledge workers, adds asynchronous task execution, and deepens support for AI-assisted development.

Flows for APEX v26.1 ships in May 2026 in two editions: a free Community Edition and a commercially supported Enterprise Edition. Read on for the full picture.

Two Editions. One Major Leap Forward.

Community Edition - Free, MIT Licence

The Community Edition continues to be available at no cost under the MIT licence. v26.1 is a maintenance release for Community users, delivering:

Task Parameters - pass structured data into tasks at runtime
Task List Subject Definition - richer, more informative task lists for end users
A range of bug fixes and stability improvements

Enterprise Edition - Major Release, Commercial Licence

The Enterprise Edition is a major release, adding capabilities that fundamentally extend what is possible with process automation in Oracle APEX. Available with full support from Flowquest on a commercial licence, the Enterprise Edition introduces:

Simple Case Management for knowledge workers using BPMN Adhoc Sub Processes
Fully autonomous AI-controlled workflow execution
Human-AI collaboration modes - from AI recommendations through to full autonomy
Asynchronous task execution for long-running scripts and services
Full AI development support - XSD, MCP access, and skills files

What's New in Enterprise Edition

Simple Case Management with Adhoc Sub Processes

Not every business process follows a fixed sequence. Knowledge workers

claims handlers, support agents, case managers - need the freedom to respond to situations as they unfold. Flows for APEX v26.1 introduces BPMN Adhoc Sub Processes to support exactly this kind of flexible, human-driven work.

Within an Adhoc Sub Process, a set of activities is defined in the BPMN model. The knowledge worker sees these as options in an APEX-based Case Workbench, choosing which activities to perform, in what order, based on the specifics of each case. The system handles input parameter collection, layout, completion conditions, and a full log of completed tasks - giving structure without rigidity.

Autonomous AI Workflow Execution

This is the headline feature of v26.1. Flows for APEX can now run Adhoc Sub Processes under AI control - with the AI engine selecting activities, monitoring results, and driving task execution from start to finish.

Three operating modes give you full control over the human-AI boundary:

Fully Autonomous - the AI runs the process end to end
Human with AI Recommendations - the AI advises, a human decides
AI On Demand - human-led, with AI available to assist when called upon

Critically, AI-controlled Adhoc Sub Processes can include human tasks, approval tasks, and deterministic business rules tasks - so AI autonomy integrates with your existing BPMN guardrails rather than bypassing them. All AI decisions are logged with a full rationale, giving supervisors complete visibility into why the AI acted as it did.

Turn Management ensures AI is invoked only where appropriate, preventing runaway automation and keeping humans in control of the overall process.

Asynchronous Task Execution

Long-running script and service tasks have historically created friction in Flows for APEX applications - blocking user sessions and degrading the user experience. v26.1 addresses this directly by allowing these tasks to be moved into a background session, keeping the UI responsive while heavy processing continues independently.

AI-Assisted Development Support

Flows for APEX v26.1 is built to work with modern AI development tooling:

A full XSD definition of all Flows for APEX extensions to BPMN, giving AI coding assistants a precise understanding of the domain-specific modeling language
Scripts to create read-only MCP access to Flows for APEX metadata, enabling AI tools to inspect and reason about live process definitions
Skills files for rapid onboarding of AI development tools to the Flows for APEX environment

Availability

Both Community and Enterprise editions of Flows for APEX v26.1 will ship in May 2026.

Community Edition - free download, MIT licence
Enterprise Edition - visit flowquest.net for licensing and support details

Find out more at flowsforapex.org and flowquest.net

Follow us for deep-dive blogs on Case Management, Autonomous AI Workflows, and Async Tasks - coming over the next few days.