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

# Destroying workloads

> Delete a workload, every Instance it created, and its ALB with datumctl compute destroy.

`datumctl compute destroy` removes a workload, its ALB, and every Instance that it created in every location:

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

Before it deletes anything, the command prints a summary of the number of placements, the locations, the total minimum replicas, and the ALB's hostnames, and then asks for confirmation. Custom domains attached to the ALB stop serving the workload, but Datum keeps the domain resources. To skip the prompt in scripts and CI, pass `-y` or `--yes`:

```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.