# Autokill

Autokill automatically terminates instances or service groups when a configured condition triggers.
It helps avoid unnecessary resource usage when instances or groups are no longer needed.

You can configure autokill on:
- **Instances**: killed after a time, or after reaching a request limit
- **Instance templates**: killed if nobody clones them within a specified time
- **Service groups**: killed after the group has been empty for a specified time

## Instance autokill

### Kill after stopped duration

Automatically kill an instance after it stops and remains stopped for a given number of milliseconds:

```json title="POST /instances"
{
  "autokill": {
    "time_ms": 3600000
  }
}
```

This example kills the instance 1 hour after it stops.

### Kill after a request count

Kill an instance after it serves a specified request count:

```json title="POST /instances"
{
  "autokill": {
    "num_requests": 1000
  }
}
```

### Updating autokill on a stopped instance

```json title="PATCH /instances/{uuid}"
{
	"prop": "autokill",
	"op": "set",
	"value": {
	    "time_ms": 10000
	}
}
```

## Service group autokill

Automatically kill a service group after it stays empty (no instances) for a given number of milliseconds:

```json title="POST /services"
{
  "autokill": {
    "time_ms": 300000
  }
}
```

This example kills the service group 5 minutes after its last instance leaves.

## Instance template autokill

Automatically kill an instance template if nobody clones it within a given number of milliseconds:

```json title="POST /instances/templates"
{
  "autokill": {
    "time_ms": 86400000
  }
}
```

This example removes the template after 24 hours without a clone.

## Interaction with delete locks

Autokill skips any instance that has a [delete lock](/platform/delete-locks) set.
The autokill timer doesn't fire while a delete lock is active.

## Autokill on instance clone

When you clone an instance from a template, the new instance inherits the autokill configuration.

## Learn more

* Unikraft Cloud's [REST API reference](/api/platform/v1), in particular the sections on [instances](/api/platform/v1/instances) and [services](/api/platform/v1/service-groups)