---
title: "Pause a workflow and cancel its running executions"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/workflows/{id}/pause"
tags: ["Workflows"]
---

# Pause a workflow and cancel its running executions

`POST /api/v1/workflows/{id}/pause`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.sendly.now`
- URL: `https://api.sendly.now/api/v1/workflows/{id}/pause`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in cookie `better-auth.session_token`
  - OAuth 2 (authorization code, authorization URL `https://app.sendly.now/api/auth/oauth2/authorize`, token URL `https://app.sendly.now/api/auth/oauth2/token`, scopes: `workflows:write`)

Disables the workflow and cancels every `RUNNING`/`WAITING` execution inside it.

`PATCH { "enabled": false }` stops NEW runs starting and leaves every in-flight contact walking the graph — the next delay still expires, the next email still sends. Pausing does both, and reports how many runs it stopped.

Cancelling is terminal: `resume` re-opens the workflow to new runs, it does not put the cancelled contacts back where they were.

Requires the `workflows:write` scope — Create, edit, enable, and delete your automation workflows.

## Path parameters

- `id` string, uuid, required: Workflow id.

## Response `200`

The workflow, and the number of runs this call cancelled

- WorkflowStateChangeV1: The workflow after a pause or resume, with the number of runs the call stopped.
  - `cancelled_executions` integer, required: Runs stopped by this call. Always 0 for `resume`; on `pause` it is the number of `RUNNING`/`WAITING` executions that were cancelled, which is what makes pausing different from `PATCH { enabled: false }` (that only stops NEW runs starting).
  - `workflow` WorkflowV1, required: An automation workflow as exposed on the v1 API.
    - `allow_reentry` boolean, required
    - `created_at` string, date-time, required
    - `description` string, nullable, required
    - `enabled` boolean, required
    - `event_name` string, nullable, required: Trigger event for `EVENT` workflows; null for the other trigger types.
    - `id` string, uuid, required
    - `max_executions_per_hour` integer, nullable, required
    - `name` string, required
    - `step_count` integer, required: Steps in this workflow's graph, trigger step included — so a workflow that has only ever been created reports 1. Read `/graph` for the steps themselves.
    - `trigger_type` 'EVENT' | 'MANUAL' | 'SCHEDULE', required
    - `updated_at` string, date-time, required
    - `version` integer, required: Incremented on every structural (step/transition) change.

## Other responses

- `401`: `invalid_api_key` or `invalid_session` — missing or invalid credentials.
- `403`: `scope_missing`, `project_access_denied`, or `project_disabled`.
- `404`: `resource_not_found` — no workflow with this id belongs to the authenticated project.
- `422`: `validation_error` — query, path, or body parameters did not match the schema.
- `429`: `rate_limited` — see `Retry-After` and the `RateLimit` headers.
- `500`: `internal_error`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api/revisions/ce7cfb7f7c7e?raw)