> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tai42.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cancel a pending interaction > Cancel a pending interaction — WITHDRAW one specific ask without answering it and without deleting its conversation thread. The mirror of ``answer_interaction`` for the terminal-without-an-answer case: it tears the pending question down via the store's status-gated ``prune_pending`` (the same primitive the timeout path and the thread-delete cascade use), so NO continuation fires — a parked async flow is never resumed — and the removed event rides tagged ``reason="cancelled"`` so a live operator surface tells a deliberate withdrawal apart from a timeout/expiry removal. Status-gated exactly like the answer door: only a PENDING (or parked) question cancels. A question already ``answered`` (its state retained) is a loud ``409`` conflict; a question whose state is GONE — expired, already cancelled, or never existed (all leave no distinguishable tombstone, the same limit the answer door has) — is a ``404``. Idempotent at the store seam: ``prune_pending`` re-run on a withdrawn question is a clean no-op, so a re-cancel simply reports the question gone (``404``) rather than double-tearing anything down. Unlike the answer door it is answer-format-AGNOSTIC: an EXTERNAL ask is a pending ask an operator may withdraw, so it is cancellable too. Channel-blind by construction: a channel-side pending correlation is NOT proactively torn down. A later participant reply forwarded to the callback door finds the state gone and the door answers ``404``, which the inbound ladder maps to a fresh bridged turn — the identical path a timeout/expiry removal already takes. Audience gate identical to ``answer_interaction`` (after the existence/status guards): a question's ``audience`` identity OR any unrestricted caller (the operator can always withdraw a stuck question) may cancel; every other restricted caller is a loud ``403``. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /openapi.json post /api/interactions/{interaction_id}/cancel openapi: 3.1.0 info: description: The operator HTTP surface served under /api/*. title: tai42-skeleton API version: 14.0.2 servers: [] security: [] paths: /api/interactions/{interaction_id}/cancel: post: tags: - interactions summary: Cancel a pending interaction description: >- Cancel a pending interaction — WITHDRAW one specific ask without answering it and without deleting its conversation thread. The mirror of ``answer_interaction`` for the terminal-without-an-answer case: it tears the pending question down via the store's status-gated ``prune_pending`` (the same primitive the timeout path and the thread-delete cascade use), so NO continuation fires — a parked async flow is never resumed — and the removed event rides tagged ``reason="cancelled"`` so a live operator surface tells a deliberate withdrawal apart from a timeout/expiry removal. Status-gated exactly like the answer door: only a PENDING (or parked) question cancels. A question already ``answered`` (its state retained) is a loud ``409`` conflict; a question whose state is GONE — expired, already cancelled, or never existed (all leave no distinguishable tombstone, the same limit the answer door has) — is a ``404``. Idempotent at the store seam: ``prune_pending`` re-run on a withdrawn question is a clean no-op, so a re-cancel simply reports the question gone (``404``) rather than double-tearing anything down. Unlike the answer door it is answer-format-AGNOSTIC: an EXTERNAL ask is a pending ask an operator may withdraw, so it is cancellable too. Channel-blind by construction: a channel-side pending correlation is NOT proactively torn down. A later participant reply forwarded to the callback door finds the state gone and the door answers ``404``, which the inbound ladder maps to a fresh bridged turn — the identical path a timeout/expiry removal already takes. Audience gate identical to ``answer_interaction`` (after the existence/status guards): a question's ``audience`` identity OR any unrestricted caller (the operator can always withdraw a stuck question) may cancel; every other restricted caller is a loud ``403``. operationId: post_api_interactions_interaction_id_cancel parameters: - in: path name: interaction_id required: true schema: type: string responses: '200': content: application/json: schema: properties: data: $ref: '#/components/schemas/InteractionActionResult' required: - data type: object description: Success. '401': content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' description: Missing or invalid api key. '403': content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' description: Forbidden. '404': content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' description: Resource not found. '409': content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' description: Conflict with the current resource state. security: - ApiKeyAuth: [] components: schemas: InteractionActionResult: description: |- A single interaction terminal result: the id and its new ``status`` (``answered`` for the answer door, ``cancelled`` for the cancel door). properties: interaction_id: title: Interaction Id type: string status: title: Status type: string required: - interaction_id - status title: InteractionActionResult type: object Error: properties: code: description: >- Stable machine-readable reason a client keys a dedicated error state on, present on refusals that opt in (e.g. a 501 not-configured refusal). Optional: absent when the error carries only a human-readable message. type: string error: type: string required: - error type: object securitySchemes: ApiKeyAuth: in: header name: x-api-key type: apiKey ````