c8volt cancel process-instance
Cancel process instances by key or filters
Synopsis
Cancel process instances by key or search filters.
By default c8volt validates the affected root and descendant instances, asks for confirmation, and waits until cancellation is observed. Use –force when a selected child must be escalated to its root instance.
Cancellation succeeds when every affected family member is completed, canceled, terminated, or absent. The explicit expect process-instance –state canceled check still requires canceled or terminated instances.
–tenant limits search-derived selection. An empty tenant or –all-tenants leaves discovery unfiltered across accessible tenants. Explicit –key and stdin keys use backend authorization without tenant filtering.
A –bpmn-process-id selector must match a visible process definition before instance discovery. An empty selection completes without confirmation or cancellation.
–batch-size controls each discovery request; –limit caps selected instances across all pages. –workers, –fail-fast, and –no-worker-limit control planning and cancellation work.
Use –verbose to explain root escalation, accepted cancellation, and confirmation waits. Use –debug for per-check state observations and HTTP diagnostics; it remains independent of –verbose. A confirmation timeout reports accepted cancellation as submitted but unconfirmed.
Use –dry-run to preview the affected family without cancelling. Use –auto-confirm for unattended cancellation.
c8volt cancel process-instance [flags]
Examples
./c8volt cancel process-instance --key <process-instance-key>
./c8volt cancel process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --force
./c8volt --tenant tenant-a cancel process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --dry-run
./c8volt --tenant tenant-a cancel process-instance --state active --limit 5 --dry-run
./c8volt --tenant "" cancel process-instance --state active --limit 5 --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --state active --batch-size 250 --limit 5 --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --state active --json --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --state active --keys-only
./c8volt cancel process-instance --state active --start-date-before 2026-05-31 --limit 5 --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --state active --start-date-newer-days 30 --limit 5 --dry-run
./c8volt cancel process-instance --bpmn-process-id <bpmn-process-id> --state active --limit 5 --auto-confirm
./c8volt --verbose cancel process-instance --state active --limit 25 --auto-confirm
./c8volt --verbose --debug cancel process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --force
./c8volt expect process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --state canceled
./c8volt get process-instance --key <process-instance-key> --keys-only | ./c8volt cancel process-instance --auto-confirm -
Options
-n, --batch-size int32 number of process instances to inspect per discovery page; does not cap total selected scope (max limit 1000 enforced by server) (default 1000)
-b, --bpmn-process-id string BPMN process ID to filter process instances
--dry-run preview cancel scope without submitting cancellation
--end-date-after string only include process instances with end date >= YYYY-MM-DD
--end-date-before string only include process instances with end date <= YYYY-MM-DD
--end-date-newer-days int only include process instances with end date N days old or newer (0 means today) (default -1)
--end-date-older-days int only include process instances with end date N days old or older (default -1)
--fail-fast stop scheduling new instances after the first error
--force cancel the root instance when a selected instance is a child
-h, --help help for process-instance
-k, --key strings process instance key(s) to cancel
-l, --limit int32 maximum number of matching process instances to select for cancellation across all pages; omit to continue through all matches
--no-state-check skip checking the current state of the process instance before cancelling it
--no-wait return after cancellation is accepted
--no-worker-limit use all queued jobs as workers when --workers is unset
--pd-version int32 process definition version
--pd-version-tag string process definition version tag
--start-date-after string only include process instances with start date >= YYYY-MM-DD
--start-date-before string only include process instances with start date <= YYYY-MM-DD
--start-date-newer-days int only include process instances N days old or newer (0 means today) (default -1)
--start-date-older-days int only include process instances N days old or older (default -1)
-s, --state string state to filter process instances: all, active, completed, canceled, terminated (default "all")
-w, --workers int maximum concurrent workers for queued work; mutation work uses root trees (default: min(queued work, 2*GOMAXPROCS, 32)); independent of discovery page size
Options inherited from parent commands
--all-tenants clear configured tenant filtering and search all tenants visible to the authenticated user; mutually exclusive with --tenant
-y, --auto-confirm auto-confirm prompts for non-interactive use
--automation enable non-interactive mode for commands that explicitly support it
--config string path to config file
--debug enable debug logging
-j, --json output as JSON (where applicable)
--keys-only output keys only (where applicable)
--log-level string log level (debug, info, warn, error) (default "info")
--no-indicator disable transient terminal activity indicators
--profile string config active profile name to use (e.g. dev, prod)
-q, --quiet suppress output except errors
--tenant string tenant ID for discovery/search, selection, create, deploy, and run flows; explicit empty values can clear configured discovery filters, and explicit keys/IDs remain backend-authorized
--timeout duration HTTP request timeout (default 30s)
-v, --verbose show additional output
SEE ALSO
- c8volt cancel - Cancel running process instances