---
id: META-5
family: RT-META
level: extended
profiles: [runtime, editor-client]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/rt-meta/meta-5
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# META-5 — An unknown workflow's schema is a bare error document

*RT-META (Part II) · level: extended · profiles: runtime, editor-client · added in 1.0*

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A schema read for a workflow that does not exist answers `404` with the body `{"error": "Workflow not found."}`: one key, no `success` key, and the trailing full stop part of the literal.
>
> 2. Absence is answered before anything else is read, so an unknown identifier never reaches the schema-version or entity-tag logic.

## Related rules

- Names: META-4
- Referenced by: META-4

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.