Delete a workspace

Deleting a workspace schedules it for permanent deletion in 30 days. Until then it is frozen, and a workspace owner can restore it. Use this when a project is finished and you no longer need its apps, data or files.

Before you start

• Only a workspace Owner can delete a workspace. The Owner role in a workspace is separate from the Owner or Admin role in your organization: an organization Owner or Admin who isn't also an Owner of the workspace can't delete it. See Team and roles.
• Export what you need first. The workspace's Export button downloads a JSON file of its settings, members, environments, setup history and activity log. It is not a backup of your databases or files, so copy those out yourself if you need them.
• Sign in again if asked. Deleting, restoring and deleting now all need a recent sign-in, by default within the last 10 minutes. The Client Portal shows a Sign in again button if yours is too old.
• A workspace that has child workspaces can't be deleted until they are deleted or moved.

Delete a workspace

The workspace is scheduled for deletion on the date the Client Portal shows, 30 days from now.

What happens during the 30 days

• The workspace is frozen. Changes are refused: edits, deploys, new members and so on. You can still read it and export it, and you can still remove access, such as deleting a secret, a deployment or a domain.
• Apps and databases keep running, and billing continues, until the deletion date.
• A banner appears across the Client Portal for everyone who looks at the workspace. It shows the deletion date and a countdown. Owners also see Restore workspace, Export and, where it is available, Delete now.
• Requesting deletion again changes nothing. The workspace keeps its original date.

Restore a workspace

An Owner can restore the workspace at any time before the deletion date.

Restoring isn't possible once the date has passed or permanent deletion has started. It also isn't possible if Groundfloor has suspended the workspace: contact support. After a restore, wait about 10 minutes before you request deletion of the same workspace again.

Delete now

Delete now skips the 30 days and starts permanent deletion immediately. It is in the deletion banner, for Owners, after you have scheduled the deletion. You type the workspace's name to confirm, and you need a recent sign-in.

Delete now is switched on per environment and may not be available to you. If it isn't, the banner says Immediate deletion isn't available yet, and you wait for the scheduled date instead.

Emails

Groundfloor emails the people involved when deletion is requested, restored or started, and reminds them before the deletion date:

The emails name the deletion date. Only Owners are told who made the change; reminders don't name anyone. Reminders can arrive up to an hour later than exactly 7 days or 1 day before. People who sign in to your apps aren't workspace members and aren't emailed.

Emails are sent on a best-effort basis, so don't rely on an email alone. The banner in the Client Portal always shows the current date.

Deletion can be delayed

Where Groundfloor is legally required to keep data, deletion can be delayed or refused. In that case you see a message that the workspace can't be changed right now, and you should contact support.

What is erased, and what isn't yet

When the date arrives, or when you use Delete now, Groundfloor erases the workspace in the background. Before anything is deleted, it archives a copy of the workspace's activity log, and keeps that archive for a limited time (one year by default). The erase isn't instant, and Groundfloor retries any step that fails.

Erased:

• The workspace itself, with its settings, members and roles, environments, apps and Coderunners.
• Its managed databases.
• Its secrets and files.
• Its app authentication setup, with the sign-in accounts of your apps' users.
• Its LLM Gateway keys and data API key.

Not yet erased:

• Data stored in the data API. Groundfloor unregisters the workspace from the data API, but the stored data itself is not yet deleted.
• The running resources behind your Coderunners and apps. They may remain after the workspace is deleted.

Groundfloor is working on erasing both. Until that is done, don't rely on deleting a workspace to remove this data. If you need confirmation of erasure, contact Groundfloor support.

Use the API

These endpoints are for a person signed in to the Client Portal. M2M tokens and other service credentials are refused. See the Workspaces API for the rest of the workspace endpoints.

Delete and restore return the workspace's status and its scheduled_deletion_at date. Delete now returns 202 and starts the erase in the background; where it isn't enabled it returns 404.

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"confirm_name": "Acme dev"}' \
  https://platform.groundfloor.cloud/v1/workspaces/$WORKSPACE_ID/deletion

A change to a frozen workspace returns 423. Reads, and requests that only remove access (such as deleting a secret, a deployment or a domain), still work.

Troubleshooting

Next steps

• Workspaces — create and find workspaces.
• Team and roles — make someone a workspace Owner.
• Activity log — see who changed what.