Delete a project

A project is a Kubernetes namespace. Delete project, in the Danger zone of a project's Settings, deletes that namespace and everything in it: services, databases, volumes, settings and secrets, as kubectl delete namespace does. It can't be undone; you can only bring the project back from a backup.

To stop showing a namespace in Zeabur without deleting anything, use Remove from Zeabur in the same place. It removes the project label only.

Before you start

• You need the right to delete the namespace (delete namespaces/<project>) and the database objects in it. The review lists any right you lack, and the cluster refuses the apply.
• Zeabur's own namespaces, kube-* namespaces, components the installer put in (labelled zeabur.com/platform=true) and zeabur-terminals can't be deleted here.

Review what goes

Goes with the project lists:

• The services, by name.
• Each database, with the time of its last backup.
• Each volume, with the time of its last backup and whether its data stays. When the volume's PersistentVolume says Retain, the data stays in that PersistentVolume; Delete deletes it. When Zeabur can't read the PersistentVolume it reads the StorageClass's reclaimPolicy, and when it can read neither it says it can't tell.
• Your tools pods for the project. They run in zeabur-terminals; Zeabur deletes them after the namespace.

A database or volume with no successful backup in the last day gets Back up first. It swaps the review for that backup's, using the same Back up now as the database page and volume backups; apply it, wait for the backup to finish, then come back to delete the project. It shows only where backups are set up.

Stays lists the backups in S3 and everything outside the project, such as other projects and cluster settings.

K8up volume backups need their restic password to restore, and it's in a Secret in the project (for example data-redis-0-backup) that goes with it. To restore those volumes later, keep a copy first:

kubectl -n shop get secret data-redis-0-backup -o jsonpath='{.data.RESTIC_PASSWORD}' | base64 -d

A cluster backup (Velero) holds the whole namespace, Secrets included, so restoring from one needs nothing kept aside.

When Helm, Argo CD or Flux manages objects in the project, the review says so: the tool may create them again after the deletion. Remove the application from the tool first.

Type the project name, or click the name in the prompt to fill it in, then press Delete project.

What happens

Zeabur deletes as you, in this order:

1. The database objects, such as CloudNativePG's Cluster, so each operator can clean up its way. Zeabur waits up to a minute for the databases to go. When an operator isn't running, its cleanup won't happen and the project stays in deletion; the project page lists the objects still there and their finalizers.
2. The namespace. Kubernetes then deletes what is left in it.
3. Your tools pods for the project.

Meanwhile the projects list shows Deleting… and the project page says what is left. It usually takes a minute or two.

The project doesn't go away

A namespace waits until every object in it has lost its finalizers. The controller that added a finalizer removes it after its cleanup; while that controller doesn't run, the object stays.

The project page lists the objects that still have finalizers and the commands to look at them. For a project shop:

kubectl get namespace shop -o yaml
kubectl get clusters.postgresql.cnpg.io orders -n shop -o yaml

status.conditions says which resources are left and which finalizers they wait for. Usually the fix is to get the operator running again; it removes its finalizer when its cleanup is done. Zeabur never removes a finalizer: that skips the cleanup and can leave resources outside the cluster, such as cloud disks or files in S3.

Create a project again with the same name

If another team will get the name of a project you deleted, wait 70 minutes first.

The registry token that Zeabur Builder uses to push images names repositories, which are the project name, and not the namespace UID. After a project is deleted and a project with the same name is created, a token issued for the old one can still push to the new project's repositories until it expires. A build token lasts at most 70 minutes (the default build deadline of 60 minutes plus 10), and a token for uploading a source archive lasts 15 minutes. Deleting and re-creating your own project needs no wait.

Bring a project back

In Cluster → Backups, pick a backup from before the deletion and press Restore deleted project (New project from backup while the project still exists). See the cluster backups page for the steps.

Databases' and volumes' own S3 backups stay too: restore them into a new database or volume in a new project.

The same with kubectl

kubectl delete clusters.postgresql.cnpg.io --all -n shop   # one line per database kind, first
kubectl delete namespace shop

kubectl delete namespace shop alone deletes everything too; the difference is that databases go at the same time as everything else, and their operators may not get to clean up.

List the tools pods of shop in zeabur-terminals, then delete them:

kubectl get pods -n zeabur-terminals -l zeabur.com/project=shop