Pausing and Resuming Connections Using the REST API

Use this tutorial to pause a connection, keep it paused for a defined window, and then resume it with a credential health check.

Pausing a connection stops all scheduled syncs without deleting the connection or its schema. This is useful for:

• Business-hours syncing: Pause a connection outside working hours to reduce load on the source system.
• Cost control: Avoid syncing during peak billing windows for metered sources.
• Upstream maintenance windows: Prevent failed syncs while the source database, API, or warehouse is under maintenance.

Prerequisites

• A scoped API key and secret
• The ID of the connection you want to pause
• jq installed

Endpoints used in this workflow

This workflow uses PATCH /v1/connections/{connectionId} (Update a Connection) and POST /v1/connections/{connectionId}/test (Run Connection Setup Tests).

How to Pause and Resume Connections Using the REST API

Run the following commands in the given order:

1. Set your environment variables.
2. Pause the connection.
3. Run setup tests.
4. Resume the connection.

Set your environment variables

Set your environment variables

export FIVETRAN_API_KEY="<your_api_key>"
export FIVETRAN_API_SECRET="<your_api_secret>"
export FIVETRAN_BASE_URL="https://api.fivetran.com/v1"
export FIVETRAN_AUTH_HEADER=$(printf "%s" "$FIVETRAN_API_KEY:$FIVETRAN_API_SECRET" | base64 | tr -d '\n')

# The ID of the connection you want to pause and resume.
export CONNECTION_ID="<your_connection_id>"

Pause connection

Use the Update a Connection endpoint to pause a connection.

Setting paused to true stops all scheduled syncs for the connection immediately. Any sync currently in progress finishes before the pause takes effect.

PAUSE_RESPONSE=$(curl --silent --show-error \
  --request PATCH \
  --url "$FIVETRAN_BASE_URL/connections/$CONNECTION_ID" \
  --header "Accept: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Basic $FIVETRAN_AUTH_HEADER" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"paused": true}')

echo "$PAUSE_RESPONSE" | jq

A successful response returns the updated connection object. Confirm the connection is paused by checking the paused field in the response:

echo "$PAUSE_RESPONSE" | jq '.data.paused'
# Expected output: true

Run setup tests

Before resuming, use the Run Connection Setup Tests endpoint to verify that the source is still reachable. This is especially important after a maintenance window, where credentials or network routes may have changed.

TEST_RESPONSE=$(curl --silent --show-error \
  --request POST \
  --url "$FIVETRAN_BASE_URL/connections/$CONNECTION_ID/test" \
  --header "Accept: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Basic $FIVETRAN_AUTH_HEADER" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json")

echo "$TEST_RESPONSE" | jq '.data.setup_tests'

Each entry in the setup_tests array has a status field. A value of PASSED means the test succeeded.

Resume connection

Once setup tests pass, use the Update a Connection endpoint to resume the connection.

RESUME_RESPONSE=$(curl --silent --show-error \
  --request PATCH \
  --url "$FIVETRAN_BASE_URL/connections/$CONNECTION_ID" \
  --header "Accept: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Basic $FIVETRAN_AUTH_HEADER" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"paused": false}')

echo "$RESUME_RESPONSE" | jq

Confirm the connection is no longer paused by checking the paused field in the response:

echo "$RESUME_RESPONSE" | jq '.data.paused'
# Expected output: false

Notes

• Pausing a connection doesn't delete its schema, sync history, or configuration. All data synced before the pause remains in the destination.
• A paused connection doesn't count toward any sync-frequency billing unless a sync is actively running at the moment it is paused.
• If you need to pause and resume connections on a schedule automatically, combine this workflow with a cron job or an orchestration tool that calls these endpoints at the appropriate times.
• To check the current pause state of a connection without modifying it, use the Retrieve Connection Details endpoint and inspect the paused field in the response.