Run a watch Generally available

POST /_watcher/watch/{id}/_execute
Api key auth Basic auth Bearer auth

All methods and paths for this operation:

PUT /_watcher/watch/_execute

POST /_watcher/watch/_execute
PUT /_watcher/watch/{id}/_execute
POST /_watcher/watch/{id}/_execute

This API can be used to force execution of the watch outside of its triggering logic or to simulate the watch execution for debugging purposes.

For testing and debugging purposes, you also have fine-grained control on how the watch runs. You can run the watch without running all of its actions or alternatively by simulating them. You can also force execution by ignoring the watch condition and control whether a watch record would be written to the watch history after it runs.

You can use the run watch API to run watches that are not yet registered by specifying the watch definition inline. This serves as great tool for testing and debugging your watches prior to adding them to Watcher.

When Elasticsearch security features are enabled on your cluster, watches are run with the privileges of the user that stored the watches. If your user is allowed to read index a, but not index b, then the exact same set of rules will apply during execution of a watch.

When using the run watch API, the authorization data of the user that called the API will be used as a base, instead of the information who stored the watch. Refer to the external documentation for examples of watch execution requests, including existing, customized, and inline watches.

highlight#highlightFromAnchor" href="#topic-required-authorization"> Required authorization

  • Cluster privileges: manage_watcher
External documentation

Path parameters

  • id string Required

    The watch identifier.

Query parameters

  • debug boolean

    Defines whether the watch runs in debug mode.

application/json

Body

Responses

POST /_watcher/watch/{id}/_execute
dropdown#toggle click@window->dropdown#hide touchend@window->dropdown#hide" data-dropdown-target="button" data-scrollable="false" data-headings="false" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="menu" tabindex="0">
Console 
POST _watcher/watch/my_watch/_execute
{
  "trigger_data" : { 
    "triggered_time" : "now",
    "scheduled_time" : "now"
  },
  "alternative_input" : { 
    "foo" : "bar"
  },
  "ignore_condition" : true, 
  "action_modes" : {
    "my-action" : "force_simulate" 
  },
  "record_execution" : true 
}
resp = client.watcher.execute_watch(
    id="my_watch",
    trigger_data={
        "triggered_time": "now",
        "scheduled_time": "now"
    },
    alternative_input={
        "foo": "bar"
    },
    ignore_condition=True,
    action_modes={
        "my-action": "force_simulate"
    },
    record_execution=True,
)
const response = await client.watcher.executeWatch({
  id: "my_watch",
  trigger_data: {
    triggered_time: "now",
    scheduled_time: "now",
  },
  alternative_input: {
    foo: "bar",
  },
  ignore_condition: true,
  action_modes: {
    "my-action": "force_simulate",
  },
  record_execution: true,
});
response = client.watcher.execute_watch(
  id: "my_watch",
  body: {
    "trigger_data": {
      "triggered_time": "now",
      "scheduled_time": "now"
    },
    "alternative_input": {
      "foo": "bar"
    },
    "ignore_condition": true,
    "action_modes": {
      "my-action": "force_simulate"
    },
    "record_execution": true
  }
)
$resp = $client->watcher()->executeWatch([
    "id" => "my_watch",
    "body" => [
        "trigger_data" => [
            "triggered_time" => "now",
            "scheduled_time" => "now",
        ],
        "alternative_input" => [
            "foo" => "bar",
        ],
        "ignore_condition" => true,
        "action_modes" => [
            "my-action" => "force_simulate",
        ],
        "record_execution" => true,
    ],
]);
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"trigger_data":{"triggered_time":"now","scheduled_time":"now"},"alternative_input":{"foo":"bar"},"ignore_condition":true,"action_modes":{"my-action":"force_simulate"},"record_execution":true}' "$ELASTICSEARCH_URL/_watcher/watch/my_watch/_execute"
client.watcher().executeWatch(e -> e
    .actionModes("my-action", ActionExecutionMode.ForceSimulate)
    .alternativeInput("foo", JsonData.fromJson("\"bar\""))
    .id("my_watch")
    .ignoreCondition(true)
    .recordExecution(true)
    .triggerData(t -> t
        .scheduledTime(DateTime.of("now"))
        .triggeredTime(DateTime.of("now"))
    )
);
Request examples
dropdown#toggle click@window->dropdown#hide touchend@window->dropdown#hide" data-dropdown-target="button" data-scrollable="false" data-headings="false" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="menu" tabindex="0">
Run a watch
Run `POST _watcher/watch/my_watch/_execute` to run a watch. The input defined in the watch is ignored and the `alternative_input` is used as the payload. The condition as defined by the watch is ignored and is assumed to evaluate to true. The `force_simulate` action forces the simulation of `my-action`. Forcing the simulation means that throttling is ignored and the watch is simulated by Watcher instead of being run normally. 
{
  "trigger_data" : { 
    "triggered_time" : "now",
    "scheduled_time" : "now"
  },
  "alternative_input" : { 
    "foo" : "bar"
  },
  "ignore_condition" : true, 
  "action_modes" : {
    "my-action" : "force_simulate" 
  },
  "record_execution" : true 
}
Run `POST _watcher/watch/my_watch/_execute` and set a different mode for each action. 
{
  "action_modes" : {
    "action1" : "force_simulate",
    "action2" : "skip"
  }
}
Run `POST _watcher/watch/_execute` to run a watch inline. All other settings for this API still apply when inlining a watch. In this example, while the inline watch defines a compare condition, during the execution this condition will be ignored. 
{
  "watch" : {
    "trigger" : { "schedule" : { "interval" : "10s" } },
    "input" : {
      "search" : {
        "request" : {
          "indices" : [ "logs" ],
          "body" : {
            "query" : {
              "match" : { "message": "error" }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "condition" : {
      "compare" : { "ctx.payload.hits.total" : { "gt" : 0 }}
    },
    "actions" : {
      "log_error" : {
        "logging" : {
          "text" : "Found {{ctx.payload.hits.total}} errors in the logs"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
Response examples (200)
A successful response from `POST _watcher/watch/my_watch/_execute`. 
{
  "_id": "my_watch_0-2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z", 
  "watch_record": { 
    "@timestamp": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
    "watch_id": "my_watch",
    "node": "my_node",
    "messages": [],
    "trigger_event": {
      "type": "manual",
      "triggered_time": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
      "manual": {
        "schedule": {
          "scheduled_time": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z"
        }
      }
    },
    "state": "executed",
    "status": {
      "version": 1,
      "execution_state": "executed",
      "state": {
        "active": true,
        "timestamp": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.111Z"
      },
      "last_checked": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
      "last_met_condition": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
      "actions": {
        "test_index": {
          "ack": {
            "timestamp": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
            "state": "ackable"
          },
          "last_execution": {
            "timestamp": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
            "successful": true
          },
          "last_successful_execution": {
            "timestamp": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
            "successful": true
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "input": {
      "simple": {
        "payload": {
          "send": "yes"
        }
      }
    },
    "condition": {
      "always": {}
    },
    "result": { 
      "execution_time": "2015-06-02T23:17:55.124Z",
      "execution_duration": 12608,
      "input": {
        "type": "simple",
        "payload": {
          "foo": "bar"
        },
        "status": "success"
      },
      "condition": {
        "type": "always",
        "met": true,
        "status": "success"
      },
      "actions": [
        {
          "id": "test_index",
          "index": {
            "response": {
              "index": "test",
              "version": 1,
              "created": true,
              "result": "created",
              "id": "AVSHKzPa9zx62AzUzFXY"
            }
          },
          "status": "success",
          "type": "index"
        }
      ]
    },
    "user": "test_admin" 
  }
}