# Estuary Connector Restart

> Pause and restart Estuary connectors by disabling and re-enabling shards via flowctl. Use when temporarily stopping a connector, performing source/destination maintenance, or forcing a fresh restart to clear transient errors or load updated configs immediately. Use when user says "pause connector", "stop connector", "restart connector", "disable connector", "enable connector", "re-enable task", "…

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-estuary-agent-skills-estuary-connector-restart`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [estuary](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/estuary)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Databases](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/databases)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Upstream author:** [estuary](https://github.com/estuary)
- **Source:** https://github.com/estuary/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/estuary-connector-restart
- **Website:** https://estuary.dev

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-estuary-agent-skills-estuary-connector-restart
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Restart a Connector — Disable and Re-enable via flowctl

Temporarily pause a capture or materialization by disabling its shards, then re-enable it. The connector resumes from its last checkpoint — no data is lost. Works for both captures and materializations.

## Prerequisites

```bash
flowctl auth login
```

## Step 1: Pull the current spec

```bash
flowctl catalog pull-specs --name 
```

This creates a `flow.yaml` and a directory with the task's YAML spec.

## Step 2: Disable the connector

Edit the task's YAML file (under `/flow.yaml`) and add a `shards` block at the same level as `endpoint` and `bindings`:

```yaml
captures:
  acmeCo/source-postgres:
    endpoint:
      connector:
        image: ghcr.io/estuary/source-postgres:v1
        config: ...
    bindings:
      - resource: ...
        target: ...
    # Add this block to disable:
    shards:
      disable: true
    # To re-enable: remove the shards block and any expectPubId line
```

If a `shards` section already exists, just add `disable: true` to it.

Publish to apply:
```bash
flowctl catalog publish --source flow.yaml --auto-approve
```

Confirm it's disabled:
```bash
flowctl catalog status  --output json | jq '.status.type'
# Expected: "TASK_DISABLED"
```

## Step 3: Re-enable the connector

Edit the same file and:
1. Remove `disable: true` (or the entire `shards` block if it only contained that) — do **not** set it to `false` (an explicit `false` is treated as a setting and may cause unexpected behavior)
2. Remove the `expectPubId` line if present — it's stale after the disable publish and will cause errors

Publish again:
```bash
flowctl catalog publish --source flow.yaml --auto-approve
```

Verify it's running:
```bash
flowctl catalog status  --output json | jq '.status.type'
# Expected: "WARNING" initially (shards starting), then "OK" after 30-120 seconds
```

Activation timing varies: small connectors take 30-60 seconds, large connectors (100+ bindings) take 60-120 seconds.

Optionally remove the pulled spec files when done: `rm -rf flow.yaml /`

## Troubleshooting

| Problem | Solution |
|---------|----------|
| `expected publication ID ... was not matched` | Remove the `expectPubId` line from the spec and re-publish |
| Status stuck on `WARNING` after re-enable | Wait 30-120 seconds. If it persists, check logs with `flowctl logs --task  --since 1h` |
| `dns error: failed to lookup address` | Transient — retry the publish command |
| Status still `OK` right after disable | Wait a few seconds and re-check — status updates may take a moment |
| Can't re-enable | Ensure you removed `disable: true` entirely (not set to `false`), removed the empty `shards` block, and removed `expectPubId` |

## Tips

- Disabling is safer than deleting — all configuration and state are preserved
- The connector resumes from its checkpoint when re-enabled
- To force an immediate restart when a connector is in retry backoff (up to 15 min between retries), a disable/enable cycle bypasses the backoff entirely

## Related Skills

- **estuary-flowctl-setup** — Install and authenticate flowctl before using this skill
- **estuary-catalog-status** — Check task health before and after restarting
- **estuary-logs** — Investigate errors if the connector doesn't recover after restart

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [estuary](https://github.com/estuary)
- **Source:** [estuary/agent-skills](https://github.com/estuary/agent-skills)
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Homepage:** https://estuary.dev

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-estuary-agent-skills-estuary-connector-restart
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/estuary
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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