> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sequenzy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pause Subscribers in a Sequence

> Hold specific contacts on their current sequence step until you resume them

Hold specific contacts on the step they are on, then continue them later with [resume subscribers](/api-reference/sequences/resume-subscribers.md). Use this when a contact's onboarding should stop for a while, for example while their account is blocked or under review, without cancelling the enrollment or restarting the sequence.

A paused enrollment:

* Gets no further steps from this sequence until you resume it.
* Keeps its step, its entry event properties, and its stop-condition snapshots.
* Still counts as enrolled, so the same contact cannot enter this sequence again while paused.
* Is still ended by an unsubscribe, a bounce, or [cancel enrollments](/api-reference/sequences/cancel-enrollments.md).
* Does not react to events until you resume it. If the contact is paused on a wait-for-event step and the event arrives meanwhile, the step continues as soon as you resume them.

The request applies immediately; there is no dry run. Pausing an enrollment that is already paused changes nothing and reports `already_paused`.

> [!NOTE]
>
> This pauses individual contacts. To stop new contacts from entering the whole
> sequence while everyone already in it continues, use [pause
> enrollments](/api-reference/sequences/pause-enrollments.md) instead.

## Request

**sequenceId** `string` *required*

Sequence ID.

**subscriberIds** `array`

Subscriber IDs to pause. IDs that match no contact come back in
`notFound.subscriberIds`.

**emails** `array`

Subscriber email addresses to pause, matched case-insensitively. Emails that
match no contact come back in `notFound.emails`.

**reason** `string`

Note stored on each paused enrollment and returned as `pauseReason` by [list
enrollments](/api-reference/sequences/list-enrollments.md).

Send `subscriberIds`, `emails`, or both. Up to 500 targets combined per request.

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST "https://api.sequenzy.com/api/v1/sequences/seq_abc123/enrollments/pause" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer seq_live_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "emails": ["ada@example.com"],
    "reason": "Project blocked"
  }'
```

```bash theme={null}
sequenzy sequences pause-subscribers seq_abc123 --email ada@example.com --reason "Project blocked"
```

## Outcomes

Every active, waiting, or paused enrollment the targeted contacts have in this sequence is returned in `enrollments` with one `outcome`:

| Outcome | Meaning |
| - | - |
| `paused` | Paused by this request. |
| `already_paused` | Was already paused. Left as it was. |
| `in_progress` | A step was running for this enrollment at that moment, so it was not paused. Send the same request again shortly. If a worker stopped in the middle of the step, this can take up to 15 minutes to clear. |

Contacts that exist but have no enrollment in this sequence are listed in `notEnrolled`. A contact can have more than one enrollment in a sequence that enrolls per matching field value; every one of them is paused.

## Responses

```json 200 theme={null}
{
  "success": true,
  "sequenceId": "seq_abc123",
  "pausedCount": 1,
  "alreadyPausedCount": 0,
  "inProgressCount": 0,
  "enrollments": [
    {
      "enrollmentId": "tok_abc123",
      "subscriberId": "sub_abc123",
      "subscriberEmail": "ada@example.com",
      "currentNodeId": "node_delay_2",
      "status": "paused",
      "waitUntil": null,
      "pausedAt": "2026-03-02T09:00:00.000Z",
      "outcome": "paused"
    }
  ],
  "notEnrolled": [],
  "notFound": { "subscriberIds": [], "emails": [] },
  "message": "Paused 1 enrollment."
}
```

```json 400 theme={null}
{
  "error": "Provide subscriberIds, emails, or both."
}
```

```json 401 theme={null}
{
  "error": "Invalid API key"
}
```

```json 403 theme={null}
{
  "error": "API key is missing required scope: sequences:enroll"
}
```

```json 404 theme={null}
{
  "error": "Sequence not found"
}
```


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