Fjall Docs — Deploy Production-Ready AWS Infrastructure in Minutes

Destructive command. This permanently deletes AWS resources. Back up data first.

Overview

fjall destroy removes AWS resources created by Fjall. It handles organisation-level teardown and application teardown, removing resources in the correct dependency order.

Usage

fjall destroy [target] [options]

Destruction Types

Organisation Destruction

Remove AWS organisation infrastructure:

fjall destroy organisation

This removes:

Identity Centre configuration
Account references

By default, destroying the organisation cascades to the platform and every member account. Pass --no-cascade to destroy only the organisation stack.

Platform Destruction

Remove platform infrastructure:

fjall destroy platform

This removes:

IPAM pools
Shared networking

Account Destruction

Remove per-account foundation resources:

fjall destroy account

This removes:

CloudTrail trails
EventBridge rules
ECR repositories
Backup vaults

Application Destruction

Remove a specific application:

fjall destroy api

This removes:

Load balancers
Application services (ECS, Lambda)
Databases (after confirmation)
Networking resources
Security groups

Interactive Mode

Run without arguments for guided destruction:

fjall destroy

Fjall asks what to destroy, then which target, then confirms:

? What would you like to destroy?
  ❯ Application      Remove cloud applications
    Organisation     Remove AWS foundation

? Select application to destroy:
  ❯ Api
    Web
    Dashboard

⚠️  This will destroy all resources for 'api'
? Are you sure? (y/N)

Choosing Organisation opens a second picker (organisation, platform, or account). Selecting organisation then asks whether to cascade to the platform and every member account.

Options

Option	Description	Example
`-v, --verbose`	Show detailed destruction logs	`fjall destroy -v`
`-f, --force`	Auto-confirm destruction (required in non-interactive)	`fjall destroy --force`
`--no-cascade`	Skip automatic platform/account destruction	`fjall destroy --no-cascade`
`--skip-confirmation`	Skip destruction confirmation prompts	`fjall destroy --skip-confirmation`
`--non-interactive`	Disable all prompts	`fjall destroy --non-interactive`

Arguments

The destroy command accepts a positional argument for specifying the target:

fjall destroy [target]

Argument	Description	Example
`target`	Application name, or `organisation`, `platform`, `account`	`fjall destroy api`

Aliases

destroy has one alias, delete:

fjall delete api    # Same as fjall destroy api

fjall remove is not a destroy alias. It is the codemod command that removes a single resource from an application’s infrastructure.ts source file. It does not delete any deployed AWS resources. See fjall add for the codemod engine.

Destruction Process

1. Pre-destruction Checks

Fjall validates:

AWS credentials are valid
Target exists
No dependent resources exist
Data backup requirements

2. Resource Analysis

For each target:

Lists all resources to be deleted
Identifies dependencies
Checks for data that needs backup
Calculates destruction order

3. Confirmation

🗑️  Preparing to destroy api...

Resources to delete:
  - AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::LoadBalancer
  - AWS::ECS::Service (ApiService)
  - AWS::ECS::Cluster (ApiCluster)
  - AWS::RDS::DBCluster (ApiDatabase)
  - AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup (3)
  - AWS::EC2::VPC

⚠️  This action cannot be undone!

Destroy? (y/N)

4. Destruction Execution

Fjall:

Deletes resources in reverse dependency order
Monitors CloudFormation stack deletion
Handles errors gracefully
Reports completion status

Safety Features

Confirmation Required

By default, Fjall requires explicit confirmation:

Shows all resources to be deleted
Warns about data loss
Requires typing ‘y’ to proceed

Cascade Control

Destroying the organisation target cascades to the platform and every member account by default. To destroy only the organisation stack, pass --no-cascade. The cascade confirmation prompt spells out exactly what will be removed before any deletion starts.

Order of Destruction

Resources are removed safely:

Application services
Load balancers
Databases (with extra confirmation)
Network resources
Base infrastructure

Examples

Destroy Application

# Interactive with confirmation
fjall destroy

# Direct with confirmation
fjall destroy api

# Skip all prompts (dangerous!)
fjall destroy api --force --non-interactive

Destroy Organisation Infrastructure

# Destroy the organisation stack only
fjall destroy organisation --no-cascade

# Destroy organisation, platform, and all member accounts
fjall destroy organisation

Verbose Destruction

# See detailed progress
fjall destroy api --verbose

Common Issues

Resources Not Deleting

Stack DELETE_FAILED
❌ Stack deletion failed: Resource cannot be deleted
Fix: Check CloudFormation console for specific resource blocking deletion
Non-empty S3 Buckets
❌ S3 bucket must be empty before deletion
Fix: Empty bucket manually or use AWS Console
RDS Deletion Protection
❌ Database has deletion protection enabled
Fix: Disable deletion protection in RDS console first

Manual Cleanup

If automatic destruction fails:

Check CloudFormation: view specific errors
Remove blockers: empty S3 buckets, disable protections
Retry destruction: run the command again
Manual deletion: use the AWS Console as a last resort

Best Practices

Back up data first: export databases before destruction
Destroy non-production first: test the teardown in staging
Review resources: run fjall list -a api to see what an application declares
Use verbose mode: add -v to see detailed progress

Data Preservation

Before Destroying Databases

Create snapshots:

# RDS/Aurora snapshots are automatic
# Check AWS Console for snapshot creation

Export data:

# Use AWS tools to export if needed
aws rds create-db-snapshot

Verify backups:
- Check RDS snapshots exist
- Confirm S3 bucket contents copied
- Save any CloudWatch logs needed

After destruction, verify cleanup in the AWS Console and confirm billing for the torn-down resources has stopped.

CloudFormation stacks can take 5-10 minutes to delete completely. Monitor progress in the AWS Console if needed.

Next Steps

fjall deploy

Redeploy an application or organisation infrastructure.

fjall list

Inspect the resources an application declares in infrastructure.ts.

fjall add

Edit infrastructure.ts with the codemod engine.

fjall restore

Restore data from a snapshot after teardown.

​Overview

​Usage

​Destruction Types

​Organisation Destruction

​Platform Destruction

​Account Destruction

​Application Destruction

​Interactive Mode

​Options

​Arguments

​Aliases

​Destruction Process

​1. Pre-destruction Checks

​2. Resource Analysis

​3. Confirmation

​4. Destruction Execution

​Safety Features

​Confirmation Required

​Cascade Control

​Order of Destruction

​Examples

​Destroy Application

​Destroy Organisation Infrastructure

​Verbose Destruction

​Common Issues

​Resources Not Deleting

​Manual Cleanup

​Best Practices

​Data Preservation

​Before Destroying Databases

​Next Steps

fjall deploy

fjall list

fjall add

fjall restore

Overview

Usage

Destruction Types

Organisation Destruction

Platform Destruction

Account Destruction

Application Destruction

Interactive Mode

Options

Arguments

Aliases

Destruction Process

1. Pre-destruction Checks

2. Resource Analysis

3. Confirmation

4. Destruction Execution

Safety Features

Confirmation Required

Cascade Control

Order of Destruction

Examples

Destroy Application

Destroy Organisation Infrastructure

Verbose Destruction

Common Issues

Resources Not Deleting

Manual Cleanup

Best Practices

Data Preservation

Before Destroying Databases

Next Steps