diff --git a/service/history/api/refreshworkflow/api.go b/service/history/api/refreshworkflow/api.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dff94c8ccb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/history/api/refreshworkflow/api.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// The MIT License
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2020 Temporal Technologies Inc.  All rights reserved.
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2020 Uber Technologies, Inc.
+//
+// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+// of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+// in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+// to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+// furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+//
+// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+// all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+//
+// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+// IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+// AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+// LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+// OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+// THE SOFTWARE.
+
+package refreshworkflow
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"go.temporal.io/server/common/definition"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/common/namespace"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/common/persistence"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/shard"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/workflow"
+)
+
+func Invoke(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	workflowKey definition.WorkflowKey,
+	shard shard.Context,
+	workflowConsistencyChecker api.WorkflowConsistencyChecker,
+) (retError error) {
+	err := api.ValidateNamespaceUUID(namespace.ID(workflowKey.NamespaceID))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	wfContext, err := workflowConsistencyChecker.GetWorkflowContext(
+		ctx,
+		nil,
+		api.BypassMutableStateConsistencyPredicate,
+		workflowKey,
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer func() { wfContext.GetReleaseFn()(retError) }()
+
+	mutableState := wfContext.GetMutableState()
+	mutableStateTaskRefresher := workflow.NewTaskRefresher(
+		shard,
+		shard.GetConfig(),
+		shard.GetNamespaceRegistry(),
+		shard.GetEventsCache(),
+		shard.GetLogger(),
+	)
+	now := shard.GetTimeSource().Now()
+
+	err = mutableStateTaskRefresher.RefreshTasks(ctx, now, mutableState)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return shard.AddTasks(ctx, &persistence.AddHistoryTasksRequest{
+		ShardID: shard.GetShardID(),
+		// RangeID is set by shard
+		NamespaceID: workflowKey.NamespaceID,
+		WorkflowID:  workflowKey.WorkflowID,
+		RunID:       workflowKey.RunID,
+		Tasks:       mutableState.PopTasks(),
+	})
+}
diff --git a/service/history/historyEngine.go b/service/history/historyEngine.go
index fe0611ef072..852a38cba81 100644
--- a/service/history/historyEngine.go
+++ b/service/history/historyEngine.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ import (
 	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/recordactivitytaskheartbeat"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/recordactivitytaskstarted"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/recordchildworkflowcompleted"
+	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/refreshworkflow"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/removesignalmutablestate"
 	replicationapi "go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/replication"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/service/history/api/replicationadmin"
@@ -985,12 +986,6 @@ func (e *historyEngineImpl) NotifyNewTasks(
 	}
 }
 
-func (e *historyEngineImpl) getActiveNamespaceEntry(
-	namespaceUUID namespace.ID,
-) (*namespace.Namespace, error) {
-	return api.GetActiveNamespace(e.shard, namespaceUUID)
-}
-
 func (e *historyEngineImpl) GetReplicationMessages(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	pollingCluster string,
@@ -1059,51 +1054,12 @@ func (e *historyEngineImpl) RefreshWorkflowTasks(
 	namespaceUUID namespace.ID,
 	execution commonpb.WorkflowExecution,
 ) (retError error) {
-
-	err := api.ValidateNamespaceUUID(namespaceUUID)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	wfContext, err := e.workflowConsistencyChecker.GetWorkflowContext(
+	return refreshworkflow.Invoke(
 		ctx,
-		nil,
-		api.BypassMutableStateConsistencyPredicate,
-		definition.NewWorkflowKey(
-			namespaceUUID.String(),
-			execution.WorkflowId,
-			execution.RunId,
-		),
-	)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer func() { wfContext.GetReleaseFn()(retError) }()
-
-	mutableState := wfContext.GetMutableState()
-	mutableStateTaskRefresher := workflow.NewTaskRefresher(
+		definition.NewWorkflowKey(namespaceUUID.String(), execution.WorkflowId, execution.RunId),
 		e.shard,
-		e.shard.GetConfig(),
-		e.shard.GetNamespaceRegistry(),
-		e.shard.GetEventsCache(),
-		e.shard.GetLogger(),
+		e.workflowConsistencyChecker,
 	)
-
-	now := e.shard.GetTimeSource().Now()
-
-	err = mutableStateTaskRefresher.RefreshTasks(ctx, now, mutableState)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return e.shard.AddTasks(ctx, &persistence.AddHistoryTasksRequest{
-		ShardID: e.shard.GetShardID(),
-		// RangeID is set by shard
-		NamespaceID: namespaceUUID.String(),
-		WorkflowID:  execution.WorkflowId,
-		RunID:       execution.RunId,
-		Tasks:       mutableState.PopTasks(),
-	})
 }
 
 func (e *historyEngineImpl) GenerateLastHistoryReplicationTasks(