grafana/k6 · warning

test execution was already paused

Error message

test execution was already paused

What it means

ExecutionState.Pause() pauses the whole test run by CAS-ing currentPauseTime from 0 to now under pauseStateLock; if the CAS fails the test was already paused and the duplicate Pause() returns this error. Pausing freezes iteration timing until Resume() is called.

Source

Thrown at lib/execution.go:409

		} else {
			// The test isn't paused or finished, use the current time instead
			endTime = time.Now().UnixNano()
		}
	}

	return time.Duration(endTime-startTime) - pausedDuration
}

// Pause pauses the current execution. It acquires the lock, writes
// the current timestamp in currentPauseTime, and makes a new
// channel for resumeNotify.
// Pause can return an error if the test was already paused.
func (es *ExecutionState) Pause() error {
	es.pauseStateLock.Lock()
	defer es.pauseStateLock.Unlock()

	if !atomic.CompareAndSwapInt64(es.currentPauseTime, 0, time.Now().UnixNano()) {
		return errors.New("test execution was already paused")
	}
	es.resumeNotify = make(chan struct{})
	return nil
}

// Resume unpauses the test execution. Unless the test wasn't
// yet started, it calculates the duration between now and
// the old currentPauseTime and adds it to
// Resume will emit an error if the test wasn't paused.
func (es *ExecutionState) Resume() error {
	es.pauseStateLock.Lock()
	defer es.pauseStateLock.Unlock()

	currentPausedTime := atomic.SwapInt64(es.currentPauseTime, 0)
	if currentPausedTime == 0 {
		return errors.New("test execution wasn't paused")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 93accf6570)

Solutions

1. Check status first: GET /v1/status shows paused:true — only pause when it is false
2. After pausing, resume with POST /v1/resume before pausing again
3. Make automation idempotent: treat 'already paused' as success instead of re-issuing

Example fix

# before
k6 pause   # ... later, without resume
k6 pause   # exits with error: test execution was already paused

# after
k6 status | grep -q '"paused": true' || k6 pause

# check before pausing
status=$(curl -s http://localhost:6565/v1/status)
echo "$status" | grep -q '"paused": *false' && curl -sX POST http://localhost:6565/v1/pause || echo 'already paused'

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the REST API 'POST /v1/pause' twice without an intervening /v1/resume, or programmatically calling Pause() twice on the ExecutionState shared by the run.

Common situations: Automation/CI scripts that fire pause on a timer without checking state; two operators (or a dashboard and a script) pausing concurrently; retry logic that re-issues pause because the first response was missed.

Related errors

• test execution wasn't paused
• execution is already paused
• %s executor '%s' doesn't support pause and resume operations
• The REST API server is disabled, but this command needs to r
• getting scenario information outside of the VU context is no

AI-assisted analysis of grafana/k6@93accf6570 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e22f3cefe3d9994d. Report an issue: GitHub.