Terraform Tutorial — terraform destroy

terraform destroy removes all resources managed by the current Terraform configuration. It’s the reverse of terraform apply.

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Running destroy

$ terraform destroy

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # aws_instance.web will be destroyed
  - resource "aws_instance" "web" {
      - ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0" -> null
      - instance_type = "t3.micro" -> null
      - id            = "i-0abc123def456" -> null
    }

  # aws_s3_bucket.main will be destroyed
  - resource "aws_s3_bucket" "main" {
      - bucket = "my-app-bucket" -> null
    }

Plan: 0 to add, 0 to change, 2 to destroy.

Do you really want to destroy all resources?
  Enter a value: yes

aws_instance.web: Destroying... [id=i-0abc123def456]
aws_instance.web: Destruction complete after 45s
aws_s3_bucket.main: Destroying... [id=my-app-bucket]
aws_s3_bucket.main: Destruction complete after 2s

Destroy complete! Resources: 2 destroyed.

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Destroy with Auto-Approve

$ terraform destroy -auto-approve

⚠️ Warning: This immediately destroys all resources without confirmation. Use only in dev/test environments or automated cleanup pipelines.

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Targeted Destroy

Destroy a specific resource without touching others:

$ terraform destroy -target=aws_instance.web

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Destroy Order

Terraform destroys resources in the reverse order of their dependencies:

Create order:  VPC → Subnet → EC2 Instance
Destroy order: EC2 Instance → Subnet → VPC

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Alternative: Remove from Config

Instead of destroy, you can remove the resource from your .tf files and run apply:

# 1. Delete the resource block from main.tf
# 2. Apply
$ terraform apply
# Result: Terraform destroys the removed resource

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Prevent Accidental Destruction

Use prevent_destroy lifecycle:

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "critical_data" {
  bucket = "production-database-backups"

  lifecycle {
    prevent_destroy = true
  }
}

If someone runs terraform destroy, it fails:

Error: Instance cannot be destroyed

  Resource aws_s3_bucket.critical_data has lifecycle.prevent_destroy
  set, but the plan calls for this resource to be destroyed.

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What’s Next?

Let’s explore useful flags and tips for the complete workflow.

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← terraform apply Workflow Tips and Flags →