Retire an application
1. Remove end-to-end tests
Remove any end-to-end tests specific to the application.
2. Update Release app
Mark the application as archived in the Release app.
Edit the application in the release app (you’ll need the deploy permission to
do this), and press the ‘Delete application’ button.
3. Update Signon
Mark the application as “retired” in signon, if it used it.
Click on the Applications tab. Find the application that is being retired and click the “edit” button. Tick the box that says “This application is being retired”, then save your changes.
4. Remove from GOV.UK Docker
Remove from the projects directory and any references in docker compose or throughout the repo.
5. Update DNS
Request any public DNS entries be removed. If the app had an admin UI, it will
have had public DNS entries in the publishing.service.gov.uk domain.
Follow the instructions for DNS changes in order to remove these.
6. Remove from the GOV.UK architecture diagram
Remove the application from the GOV.UK architecture diagram.
7. Drop database
Drop the database, if present - note that this might be in RDS, but it might also exist as a MongoDB or DocumentDB database.
8. Unpublish routes
Some applications are responsible for publishing certain routes. If you’re retiring a publishing application, make sure you check if any of its content items need to be unpublished and do it via the Publishing API.
9. Remove from Sentry
Since the application has been retired, it shouldn’t be tracked in Sentry.
Do not do this through the Sentry UI, instead remove the application from this configuration file.
10. Remove from Heroku
If relevant (e.g. if Heroku was used for previews).
11. Remove from govuk-helm-charts
Remove the app’s entry in govuk-helm-charts from:
- /charts/app-config/values-integration.yaml
- /charts/app-config/values-staging.yaml
- /charts/app-config/values-production.yaml
- (if present) /charts/app-config/templates/signon-secrets-sync-configmap.yaml
- (if present) /charts/external-secrets/templates/
It’s also wise to search that repo for other references to the app being retired. Once the PR is merged (Example PR), the app pods will automatically be removed by Argo.
12. Archive the repo
Follow the steps at Retire a repo.