> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://datum-4926dda5-docs-compute-overview-cli.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Destroying workloads

> Delete a workload and every instance it created with datumctl compute destroy.

`datumctl compute destroy` removes a workload and every instance it created, across every city it was placed in:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute destroy api
```

Before deleting anything, it prints a summary of what's about to go — the number of placements, the cities involved, and total minimum replicas — then asks for confirmation. Pass `-y`/`--yes` to skip the prompt in scripts and CI:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute destroy api -y
```

<Warning>
  Unlike `datumctl delete` elsewhere in the CLI, `destroy` has no `--dry-run` and there's no `diff` equivalent to preview it. The confirmation prompt is your only checkpoint — read the summary it prints, or check the workload yourself first:

  ```bash theme={null}
  datumctl compute workloads describe api
  ```
</Warning>

## Next steps

* `datumctl compute destroy --help` for the full flag reference.
* [Deploying workloads](/datumctl/compute/deploying-workloads) — redeploy the workload later from the same manifest or image.
* [Operations](/datumctl/compute/scaling-and-operations) — restart or check instances before you decide to remove a workload altogether.