[role="xpack"]
[[watcher-api-stop]]
=== Stop watch service API
++++
<titleabbrev>Stop watch service</titleabbrev>
++++

Stops the {watcher} service if it is running.

[[watcher-api-stop-request]]
==== {api-request-title}

`POST _watcher/_stop`

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

//[[watcher-api-stop-path-params]]
//==== {api-path-parms-title}

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

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

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

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

[[watcher-api-stop-example]]
==== {api-examples-title}

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST _watcher/_stop
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

{watcher} returns the following response if the request is successful:

[source,console-result]
--------------------------------------------------
{
   "acknowledged": true
}
--------------------------------------------------