ActionCircleCIUpdated September 2026

How do I cancel a CircleCI workflow?

Short answer: You can cancel workflow in CircleCI by hand from its own interface, but it won’t repeat itself. On TinyCommand, add the CircleCI Cancel Workflow action to a workflow, map its 1 input from any upstream app, and it runs automatically every time the trigger fires. No code, and a free tier to start.

Cancel Workflow in CircleCI — start free
Inputs

The fields this action accepts.

Every field can be mapped from an upstream trigger, AI step, table row, or hard-coded literal.

FieldTypeRequiredDescription
Workflow ID
workflow_id
stringRequiredWorkflow ID. Example: wf-abc-123
Sample request
{
"workflow_id": "e.g. wf-abc-123"
}
Returns
{
"message": "Accepted."
}

Use these fields in downstream nodes for routing, logging, or error handling.

Triggered by

Apps that pair well as the trigger for Cancel Workflow.

Any of these apps can fire this action as part of a workflow.

FAQ

Questions about Cancel Workflow.

What does the Cancel Workflow action do in CircleCI?
Stops an in-flight workflow. Useful for "downstream check failed, short-circuit the rest of the pipeline" cascading workflows or for emergency stop on accidental production deploys.
What inputs does Cancel Workflow require?
Required: Workflow ID. Every input accepts a static value or a variable from any upstream node in your workflow.
Can I use dynamic inputs from earlier workflow nodes?
Yes. Any field on this action can pull values from upstream nodes, whether that's a form response, a trigger payload, an AI output, or a lookup result.
What happens if CircleCI returns an error?
The run history shows the failed step with its input and the error message CircleCI returned, so you can fix the input and run the workflow again. Automatic retries are built into HTTP steps only, where you can also set your own retry count and delay.
Does Cancel Workflow support batch operations?
Run Cancel Workflow inside a loop to process each item in an array. TinyCommand does not throttle calls for you, so for large arrays add a Delay step if you need to stay within CircleCI's rate limits.
More actions

Other CircleCI actions.

Cancel Workflow in CircleCI — start free