---
title: "Stop a Research Agent session"
method: POST
path: "/sessions/agents/{sessionId}/stop"
tags: ["Research Agent"]
---

# Stop a Research Agent session

`POST /sessions/agents/{sessionId}/stop`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://elicit.com/api/v2`
- URL: `https://elicit.com/api/v2/sessions/agents/{sessionId}/stop`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Request an asynchronous interrupt using the same stop action as the Elicit web interface.

Stopping does not delete or permanently close the session. The session remains visible and may be continued later. When the response status is `stopping`, poll the events endpoint until a `session_stopped` event appears.

The operation is idempotent. If the session is already stopped or failed, it returns the existing state with `200 OK`.

### Example

```bash
curl -X POST https://elicit.com/api/v2/sessions/agents/{sessionId}/stop \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer elk_live_your_key_here"
```

## Path parameters

- `sessionId` string, uuid, required

## Response `200`

The session had already stopped or failed.

- StopAgentSessionResponse
  - `sessionId` string, required: Unique identifier for the research agent session.
  - `status` 'stopping' | 'stopped' | 'failed', required: "stopping" when a stop was queued (the session halts asynchronously; poll the events endpoint for the session_stopped event). "stopped" or "failed" when the session had already ended and no stop was needed.
  - `url` string, required: URL to view the session in the Elicit web interface. Only the owner can continue it.

## Other responses

- `202`: The stop request was queued. Poll the events endpoint until the session is stopped.
- `400`: The request body, query parameters, or path ID failed validation.
- `401`: Authentication failed. The API key is missing, invalid, revoked, or expired.
- `403`: API access is not available on your current plan. Upgrade to Pro or above to use the API.
- `404`: The session does not exist or is not accessible to you for this operation.
- `429`: Rate limit exceeded. More than 100 requests per minute were received from your IP address; further requests are blocked for 5 minutes.
- `500`: An unexpected error occurred. Retry reads with backoff; before retrying a write, check whether it took effect. See Error Handling for retry guidance.

## Changes

- **2026-10-16** `22847bf7e65d`: 1 info
  - endpoint added

[Operation history](https://skmtc.dev/elicitlabs/apis/elicit-labs-api/changes/sessions/agents/:sessionId/stop/post.md)

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/elicitlabs/apis/elicit-labs-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/elicitlabs/apis/elicit-labs-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/elicitlabs/apis/elicit-labs-api/revisions/cbbe29509d04?raw)