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

# Update Journey Status

> Activate, pause, draft, or archive an SMS welcome journey.

Changes the journey status, clears the pause reason, and updates holds on active enrollments. Draft and paused statuses hold active enrollments; active and archived statuses release existing holds. An archived journey sends nothing, and its released enrollments exit permanently as they come due; a later status change does not restore them. Draft and paused hold the enrollments before the new status is stored, while active and archived store the status before releasing them, so a request that fails partway can only delay sends, never leave a stopped journey still sending.

Declares the `journeys.write` scope. Authenticate with `X-Api-Key`; see [Authentication](/api-reference/authentication).

Activation follows the [API key requirements](/api-reference/v2/journeys/create-journey#api-key-requirements). Restricted keys retain the three stop statuses. Extra body fields are ignored by this endpoint.

## Parameters

<ParamField path="journey_id" type="string" required>
  Journey ID returned by create or list. Use a valid journey ID; malformed IDs currently return an unexpected error.
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="status" type="string" required>
  One of draft, active, paused, or archived.
</ParamField>

Activation requires a nonempty steps array and a start step, and rechecks referenced double opt-in configurations. Invalid status or activation requirements return 400; missing or foreign journeys return 404.

## Response

The compact journey object contains `id`, `name`, `priority`, `triggerSummary`, `stepCount`, `enrolledCount`, `completedCount`, `status`, `pauseReason`, `createdAt`, and `updatedAt`. It omits the account ID, trigger definition, and steps. Use [Get Journey](/api-reference/v2/journeys/get-journey) for the full definition.

<ResponseExample>
  ```json 200 theme={null}
  {
    "success": true,
    "message": "Journey status updated to active",
    "journey": {
      "id": "664f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d",
      "name": "Welcome",
      "priority": 0,
      "triggerSummary": "No trigger",
      "stepCount": 1,
      "enrolledCount": 0,
      "completedCount": 0,
      "status": "active",
      "pauseReason": null,
      "createdAt": "2026-09-21T10:00:00",
      "updatedAt": "2026-09-21T10:00:00"
    }
  }
  ```
</ResponseExample>

For activation errors and ambiguous outcomes, follow the [write retry rules](/api-reference/v2/journeys/create-journey#errors-and-retry).