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Last updated: 15 May 2024

Retire an application

1. Remove smoke tests

Remove any smokey 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 check the archived checkbox. This will hide it from the UI.

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

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 If you’re retiring a publishing application, make sure you check if any of its content items need to be unpublished and do it via the Publishing API.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.

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.

govuk-helm-charts Example PR

12. Archive the repo

Follow the steps at Retire a repo.