[role="xpack"]
[[watcher-api-activate-watch]]
=== Activate watch API
++++
<titleabbrev>Activate watch</titleabbrev>
++++

A watch can be either
{stack-ov}/how-watcher-works.html#watch-active-state[active or inactive]. This
API enables you to activate a currently inactive watch.

[[watcher-api-activate-watch-request]]
==== {api-request-title}

`PUT _watcher/watch/<watch_id>/_activate`

[[watcher-api-activate-watch-prereqs]]
==== {api-prereq-title}

* You must have `manage_watcher` cluster privileges to use this API. For more
information, see {stack-ov}/security-privileges.html[Security privileges].

//[[watcher-api-activate-watch-desc]]
//==== {api-description-title}

[[watcher-api-activate-watch-path-params]]
==== {api-path-parms-title}

`<watch_id>`::
  (Required, string) Identifier for the watch.

//[[watcher-api-activate-watch-query-params]]
//==== {api-query-parms-title}

//[[watcher-api-activate-watch-request-body]]
//==== {api-request-body-title}

//[[watcher-api-activate-watch-response-body]]
//==== {api-response-body-title}

//[[watcher-api-activate-watch-response-codes]]
//==== {api-response-codes-title}

[[watcher-api-activate-watch-example]]
==== {api-examples-title}

The status of an inactive watch is returned with the watch definition when you
call the <<watcher-api-get-watch,get watch API>>:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _watcher/watch/my_watch
--------------------------------------------------
// TEST[setup:my_inactive_watch]

[source,console-result]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "found": true,
  "_id": "my_watch",
  "_seq_no": 0,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "_version": 1,
  "status": {
    "state" : {
      "active" : false,
      "timestamp" : "2015-08-20T12:21:32.734Z"
    },
    "actions": ...,
    "version": 1
  },
  "watch": ...
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/2015-08-20T12:21:32.734Z/$body.status.state.timestamp/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"actions": \.\.\./"actions": "$body.status.actions"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"watch": \.\.\./"watch": "$body.watch"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"version": 1/"version": $body.status.version/]

You can activate the watch by executing the following API call:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _watcher/watch/my_watch/_activate
--------------------------------------------------
// TEST[setup:my_inactive_watch]

The new state of the watch is returned as part of its overall status:

[source,console-result]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "status": {
    "state" : {
      "active" : true,
      "timestamp" : "2015-09-04T08:39:46.816Z"
    },
    "actions": ...,
    "version": 1
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/2015-09-04T08:39:46.816Z/$body.status.state.timestamp/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"actions": \.\.\./"actions": "$body.status.actions"/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"version": 1/"version": $body.status.version/]