[Yandex Cloud documentation](../../../index.md) > [Yandex Compute Cloud](../../index.md) > [Step-by-step guides](../index.md) > Managing an instance group > Deleting an instance group

# Deleting an instance group

{% note warning %}

You cannot undo the deletion of an instance group or recover it. Along with the group, you also delete the Network Load Balancer or Application Load Balancer target group, VM instances, and disks. You cannot delete an instance group if it is a target group for a load balancer (Network Load Balancer) or a backend group (Application Load Balancer).

{% endnote %}

To delete an instance group:

{% list tabs group=instructions %}

- Management console {#console}

  1. In the [management console](https://console.yandex.cloud), open the folder containing the instance group in question.
  1. Navigate to **Compute Cloud**.
  1. In the left-hand panel, select ![image](../../../_assets/console-icons/layers-3-diagonal.svg) **Instance groups**.
  1. In the line with the instance group, click ![image](../../../_assets/console-icons/ellipsis.svg) and select **Delete**.
  1. In the window that opens, click **Delete**.

- CLI {#cli}

  If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI yet, [install and initialize it](../../../cli/quickstart.md#install).

  The folder used by default is the one specified when [creating](../../../cli/operations/profile/profile-create.md) the CLI profile. To change the default folder, use the `yc config set folder-id <folder_ID>` command. You can also specify a different folder for any command using `--folder-name` or `--folder-id`. If you access a resource by its name, the search will be limited to the default folder. If you access a resource by its ID, the search will be global, i.e., through all folders based on access permissions.

  1. See the description of the CLI command for deleting an instance group:

     ```bash
     yc compute instance-group delete --help
     ```

  1. Get a list of instance groups in the default folder:

     ```bash
     yc compute instance-group list
     ```
     
     Result:
     
     ```text
     +----------------------+----------------------+--------+------+
     |          ID          |          NAME        | STATUS | SIZE |
     +----------------------+----------------------+--------+------+
     | cl15b3mrkk88******** | first-instance-group | ACTIVE |    3 |
     +----------------------+----------------------+--------+------+
     ```

  1. Select `ID` or `NAME` of the group in question, e.g., `first-instance-group`.
  1. Delete the instance group:

     ```bash
     yc compute instance-group delete --name first-instance-group
     ```

     Instance Groups will initiate instance group deletion.

- Terraform {#tf}

  If you do not have Terraform yet, [install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider](../../../tutorials/infrastructure-management/terraform-quickstart.md#install-terraform).
  
  
  To manage infrastructure using Terraform under a service account or user accounts (a Yandex account, a federated account, or a local user), [authenticate](../../../terraform/authentication.md) using the appropriate method.

  To delete an instance group created using Terraform, follow these steps:
  1. In the command line, go to the folder with the Terraform configuration file.
  1. Delete the resources using this command:

     ```bash
     terraform destroy
     ```

     {% note alert %}

     Terraform will delete all the resources you created in the current configuration, such as clusters, networks, subnets, and VMs.

     {% endnote %}

  1. Type `yes` and press **Enter**.

- API {#api}

  Use the [delete](../../instancegroup/api-ref/InstanceGroup/delete.md) REST API method for the [InstanceGroup](../../instancegroup/api-ref/InstanceGroup/index.md) resource or the [InstanceGroupService/Delete](../../instancegroup/api-ref/grpc/InstanceGroup/delete.md) gRPC API call.

  To request a list of available instance groups, use the [listInstances](../../instancegroup/api-ref/InstanceGroup/listInstances.md) REST API method or the [InstanceGroupService/ListInstances](../../instancegroup/api-ref/grpc/InstanceGroup/listInstances.md) gRPC API call.

{% endlist %}

{% note tip %}

[Enable deletion protection](enable-deletion-protection.md) to protect the instance group from accidental deletion. As long as the protection is on, the group cannot be deleted.

{% endnote %}