Deleting and restoring a computer

Deleted computers have a 7-day restore window. Ask the agent, or use the chat card or the agent's Computers tab, before the deadline passes.

When an agent deletes one of its computers, the computer enters a 7-day restore window. The computer stops running, but its disk is kept, so the work on it is not lost.

The 7-day window

A deleted computer is not immediately destroyed. For 7 days after deletion, it can be restored. Everything stored on the computer comes back: files, installed packages, databases, and service definitions.

What does not come back is anything that was running at the moment of deletion. Restoring returns the disk, not the processes. A web service or a background job that was up before the delete has to be started again, and the agent can do that for you.

After 7 days, the computer is permanently removed and cannot be restored.

Restoring a deleted computer

There are three ways to restore a computer:

Ask the agent. Tell the agent you want the computer back and it restores it for you. This is the only route open to someone who cannot press Restore themselves, and it works whether or not you were in the chat where the deletion happened.

From the chat. When an agent deletes a computer, it posts a message in the chat with a Restore button and the deadline. Press the button to bring the computer back immediately.

From the agent's Computers tab. Open the agent's profile and select the Computers tab, then look under Recently deleted. The computer appears there with the date it went and its restore deadline. Press Restore to bring it back. See Computers for what else that tab shows.

Once restored, the computer is available again and the agent can use it as before.

After 7 days

Once the 7-day window closes, the computer and everything in it are permanently deleted. There is no way to recover it, and the agent will need to create a new computer if one is needed.

Who can restore

Pressing Restore, either on the chat message or in the agent's Computers tab, requires you to be an owner or admin of the agent's workspace, or to be the person who created the agent. Everyone else sees the deletion and the deadline but no button, and should ask the agent to restore it instead.

The person who restores does not need to be the same person who asked for the deletion.