Terminate on AWS EC2

This guide covers terminating an AWS EC2 instance. Termination permanently deletes the instance. The root EBS volume is deleted by default; other attached volumes may need to be deleted separately.

Complete the pre-termination checklist before proceeding. Termination is irreversible.

Option 1: AWS Management Console

Open the EC2 Instances list

Select your instance

Check the box next to the instance running OpenClaw. Confirm the correct instance by checking its public IP against what appeared on the watchboard.

Disable termination protection if set

If termination protection is enabled (Actions → Instance Settings → Change Termination Protection shows “Enabled”), disable it first. Otherwise the terminate action will fail with a OperationNotPermitted error.

Terminate the instance

Choose Instance state → Terminate instance from the Actions menu. Confirm when prompted.The instance moves to the shutting-down state and then terminated. AWS retains the terminated record for about an hour before removing it from the list.

Official AWS documentation: Terminate Amazon EC2 Instances

Option 2: AWS CLI

If you have the AWS CLI installed and configured:

# Find your instance ID (if you don't have it)
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --query "Reservations[*].Instances[*].[InstanceId,PublicIpAddress,State.Name]" \
  --output table

# Terminate the instance
aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids i-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If termination protection is enabled, disable it first:

aws ec2 modify-instance-attribute \
  --instance-id i-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
  --no-disable-api-termination

Official AWS CLI reference: terminate-instances

Post-termination cleanup

Delete unattached EBS volumes

The root EBS volume is deleted automatically when the instance terminates (if “Delete on Termination” was enabled — this is the default). Additional attached volumes are not deleted automatically.

# List unattached volumes
aws ec2 describe-volumes \
  --filters Name=status,Values=available \
  --query "Volumes[*].[VolumeId,Size,CreateTime]" \
  --output table

# Delete a specific volume
aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id vol-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Delete snapshots

# List snapshots owned by your account
aws ec2 describe-snapshots --owner-ids self \
  --query "Snapshots[*].[SnapshotId,Description,StartTime]" \
  --output table

# Delete a snapshot
aws ec2 delete-snapshot --snapshot-id snap-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Remove the Security Group

If you created a Security Group specifically for this instance, delete it:

aws ec2 delete-security-group --group-id sg-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Release the Elastic IP (if assigned)

Elastic IPs continue to incur charges if not released after the instance is terminated:

# List Elastic IPs
aws ec2 describe-addresses --query "Addresses[*].[PublicIp,AllocationId,AssociationId]"

# Release an unassociated Elastic IP
aws ec2 release-address --allocation-id eipalloc-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AWS guide: Delete or Terminate EC2 Resources

Rotate credentials

After termination, rotate everything the agent had access to. See the post-termination checklist for the full list.

Overview

Self-Hosted Hardening

Terminate Your Instance

Terminate on AWS EC2

Option 1: AWS Management Console

Option 2: AWS CLI

Post-termination cleanup

Delete unattached EBS volumes

Delete snapshots

Remove the Security Group

Release the Elastic IP (if assigned)

Rotate credentials

​Option 1: AWS Management Console

​Option 2: AWS CLI

​Post-termination cleanup

​Delete unattached EBS volumes

​Delete snapshots

​Remove the Security Group

​Release the Elastic IP (if assigned)

​Rotate credentials

Option 1: AWS Management Console

Option 2: AWS CLI

Post-termination cleanup

Delete unattached EBS volumes

Delete snapshots

Remove the Security Group

Release the Elastic IP (if assigned)

Rotate credentials