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Destroying Infrastructure with Pipelines

This tutorial will help you learn how to destroy infrastructure using Gruntwork Pipelines and GitOps workflows.

What you'll get​

By the end, you’ll have:

  • Destroyed AWS resources using Gruntwork Pipelines

Prerequisites​

Before starting, make sure you have:

  • Pipelines installed in a GitHub repository. Refer to Setup & Installation for details.
  • Access to a sandbox or development AWS account configured during the Pipelines installation process.
  • Permissions to create a pull request in the GitHub repository where Pipelines is installed.
  • An existing AWS resource created using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Pipelines that you want to destroy. If no resource exists, follow the steps in the Deploying your first infrastructure change tutorial to create one, which will then be destroyed in this tutorial.

Destroying with pipelines​

This section explains how to destroy AWS resources using Pipelines and GitOps workflows. The example used is the S3 bucket created in the Deploying your first infrastructure change tutorial, but the process applies to any resource you wish to destroy.

Delete the infrastructure code​

  1. Remove the folder containing the infrastructure code for the resource you want to destroy. For the S3 bucket example, delete the folder containing the S3 bucket code. Replace <ACCOUNT_NAME> and <REGION> with the appropriate values.

    rm -rf <ACCOUNT_NAME>/<REGION>/<ACCOUNT_NAME>/data-storage/s3

  2. Create a new branch, commit the changes, and push the branch to your GitHub repository.

Planning the destruction​

Create a Pull Request (PR) for the branch you just pushed, targeting main (the default branch in your repository).

Delete Infrastructure CodeDelete Infrastructure Code

Gruntwork Pipelines, via GitHub Actions (GHA), will detect the removal of the infrastructure unit's code and trigger a plan action in Pipelines. This action will display the destructive changes to be made to your AWS account.

Pipelines Destroy Plan CommentPipelines Destroy Plan Comment

Applying the destruction​

If you are satisfied with the changes shown in the plan action, you can proceed to destroy the S3 bucket.

Approve and merge the pull request to trigger the apply action, permanently deleting the resource from your AWS account.

Congratulations! You have successfully destroyed an AWS resource using Gruntwork Pipelines and GitOps workflows. To verify the resource has been destroyed, check your AWS management console.