Cancel a Process instance

POST /v1/processes/{process_id}/cancel

Property	Value
Operation	`cancel_process`
Group	Processes
Scope	`processes:write`
Route class	`control`
Idempotency	`Idempotency-Key` accepted: a retry with the same key replays the first answer
Audit	Audited `processes.process.cancel` (mutation)
Released in	1.62.0
Phase 0 host	Served (the hosted api pins 1.65.0)

Moves the instance to cancelling and writes its cancel command, and answers 202 with it and the completed effects a cancel cannot undo (1.62.0; section 9.7): the runner stops at the step's next safe point, the instance's open human tasks are cancelled, and the instance ends cancelled. An instance already cancelling is answered as it stands; one that ended is process_not_active.

Request

Set VOCAL_API to the base URL of your API and VOCAL_API_KEY to an API key with the processes:write scope (Authentication and keys). Replace each placeholder, such as agt_... or <name>, with your own value.

curl -X POST "$VOCAL_API/v1/processes/prc_.../cancel" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VOCAL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

const response = await fetch(`${process.env.VOCAL_API}/v1/processes/prc_.../cancel`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.VOCAL_API_KEY}`,
    'Idempotency-Key': crypto.randomUUID(),
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({}),
});
console.log(response.status, await response.text());

import os
import uuid

import requests

response = requests.post(
    f"{os.environ['VOCAL_API']}/v1/processes/prc_.../cancel",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['VOCAL_API_KEY']}",
        "Idempotency-Key": str(uuid.uuid4()),
    },
    json={},
)
print(response.status_code, response.text)

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
`process_id`	path	ProcessInstanceId	yes	The id of a Process instance: `prc_` and the row's UUIDv7 in 26 Crockford base32 characters. Opaque and safe to log.
`idempotency-key`	header	string	no	A client-chosen key, kept 24 hours per Organization, environment and route. A replay returns the stored response.

Request body

Content type application/json, required: ProcessCancelRequest.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`reason`	string	no	A snake_case code the Audit event records; never free text.

Responses

Status	Content type	Shape	Error codes
`202`	`application/json`	ProcessCancellation
`400`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`invalid_request`
`401`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`unauthenticated`
`403`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`forbidden`
`404`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`not_found`
`409`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`process_not_active`, `idempotency_in_progress`, `idempotency_key_reused`
`429`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`rate_limited`
`500`	`application/json`	ErrorEnvelope	`internal_error`

Fields of the `202` answer

The shape is ProcessCancellation.

Field	Type	Required
`instance`	ProcessInstance	yes
`not_compensable`	array of NotCompensableEffect	yes
`object`	`"process_cancellation"`	yes