rebuy-de/aws-nuke

★ 5,809GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((aws-nuke))
    What it does
      Deletes all AWS resources
      Dry-run by default
      Multi-step confirmation
    Tech Stack
      Go binary
      AWS APIs
      Docker image
    Use Cases
      Wipe test accounts
      Developer sandbox reset
      Failed infra cleanup
    Safety Features
      Blocklist of account IDs
      Prod account detection
      Per-resource filters

mindmap root((aws-nuke)) What it does Deletes all AWS resources Dry-run by default Multi-step confirmation Tech Stack Go binary AWS APIs Docker image Use Cases Wipe test accounts Developer sandbox reset Failed infra cleanup Safety Features Blocklist of account IDs Prod account detection Per-resource filters

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Wipe an entire AWS test or staging account at the end of a project to stop paying for idle resources.

USE CASE 2

Give each developer a personal AWS account they can nuke at the end of the day to keep cloud costs near zero.

USE CASE 3

Clean up partial or failed infrastructure from automated provisioning scripts that left resources behind.

Tech stack

GoAWSDocker

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires an AWS account alias set and a config file listing allowed account IDs before any deletions are permitted.

In plain English

aws-nuke is a command-line tool written in Go that deletes every resource inside an Amazon Web Services account. If you have a cloud account filled with servers, databases, storage buckets, user accounts, and networking pieces, aws-nuke scans all of them and removes them. The intended audience is developers and platform teams who spin up test or staging accounts and need a clean slate when they are done. The tool is built around several safety layers because deleting an entire AWS account's contents is not reversible. By default it only lists what it would delete and requires a --no-dry-run flag before touching anything real. It then asks you twice to type the account's alias to confirm. It will refuse to run if the alias contains the word "prod", and it requires you to maintain a blocklist of account IDs that should never be nuked. You also provide a config file that explicitly names each account you want to process, which prevents accidents from running it against the wrong account. The config file lets you add filters to protect specific resources you want to keep. In the examples, an administrator IAM user and its attached permissions are filtered out so the cleanup process skips them while deleting everything else. You can run aws-nuke as a binary on Linux, macOS, or Windows, or pull it as a container image from Docker Hub or Quay.io. Common use cases in the README include cleaning up accounts where automated infrastructure scripts have left behind partial or failed setups, and giving individual developers personal accounts they can wipe at the end of the day to keep costs down. This repository is no longer maintained by its original authors at rebuy-de. The README directs new users to a community-maintained fork at ekristen/aws-nuke, which continues to receive updates. The original project remains available for reference but will not receive further releases or bug fixes.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Write an aws-nuke config file that deletes everything in my AWS test account except my admin IAM user and its attached policies.

Prompt 2

How do I run aws-nuke safely, what exact flags and confirmation steps do I need to actually delete resources instead of dry-running?

Prompt 3

What resources does aws-nuke skip by default, and how do I add my own filter rules to protect specific buckets or roles?

Prompt 4

Show me a GitHub Actions workflow that runs aws-nuke on a staging AWS account every Friday to reset it for the next week.

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