Deleting and restoring a site

Deleting a site in CloudPress doesn't destroy it right away. The site is powered off and billing is cancelled immediately, but your files, database, and backups are kept for a retention window — by default 7 days — during which the site can be brought back. When that window runs out, or if you choose to remove the site immediately, the site and its data are destroyed permanently.

This guide covers all three actions: deleting a site, restoring one that's pending deletion, and removing a site permanently before the window ends.

Restoring is a purchase, not an undo

Bringing back a deleted site means buying it again. CloudPress builds a cart for the same package, term, and location the site had and sends you to the checkout page — you pay before the site comes back. It isn't a free undo, and there's no way to reverse a delete without going through checkout.

Not the same as restoring a backup

This page is about bringing back a deleted site. Rolling a still-existing site back to an earlier snapshot of its files or database is a different feature — see Backing up and restoring a site.

A few things to know before you start.

Who can do this. Deleting a site, and permanently removing one, are limited to members of the workspace whose role is administrator, or whose role grants billing access with edit rights. Other roles don't see the Delete button at all. CloudPress support can't delete or permanently remove a site on your behalf unless they're a member of your workspace with one of those roles — the dashboard says "Permanent deletion must be performed by the account's administrator."

You'll be asked to confirm your identity. Deleting is a protected action, so CloudPress asks you to confirm your identity with your passkey or password, if you haven't recently.

The Delete button is sometimes disabled. For a few minutes after a site is created it's locked while billing settles: "Available a few minutes after the site is created, once billing has settled." It's also disabled while another operation is already running on the site. Wait for whichever it is to finish, then try again.

Delete a site

In the left sidebar, open My Sites and select the site you want to delete.
In the site's left sidebar, choose Settings.
Click Delete in the page header, next to Restart.
Read the confirmation dialog (Are you sure?) and confirm. Confirm your identity if you're prompted to.
You're returned to My Sites with a Site deleted message. The site is still in the list — see the next section for what its new state means.

Note

The confirmation dialog is worded as a permanent removal. In practice the delete starts the retention window described below, and the site can still be restored until it is purged.

DashboardAPI

The site is powered off in the background and its status changes to Pending deletion. Billing stops right away: renewals are cancelled, the site no longer counts toward your subscription, and the unused, prepaid part of its term comes back to you as account credit.

The API delete does exactly the same soft delete and returns 200:

curl -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDPRESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Auth-Account: $ACCOUNT_ID" \
  https://my.cloudpress.com/api/sites/$SITE_ID

Afterwards, GET /api/sites/$SITE_ID returns a reduced payload: pending_delete is true, status is pending_delete, and delete_scheduled_at carries the date the site will be destroyed. Details that no longer apply — PHP version, SFTP path, domains, subscription — are omitted. Any request that would change the site, or reach one of its sub-resources, is refused with 403 and the code pending_delete. See Sites API.

What happens while the site is pending deletion

For the length of the retention window:

Your data stays. Files, database, and backups are retained, and the site's infrastructure is kept intact rather than torn down. Nothing has to be rebuilt if you restore.
The site is powered off and serves nothing. Its address won't load.
Billing has already stopped. Renewals are cancelled at the moment you delete, not at the end of the window, and the unused, prepaid part of the term is credited back — as account credit on your balance, not as a refund to your card. See Billing.
It still appears in My Sites, with a trash badge on its thumbnail, a red Pending deletion status, a Scheduled for deletion: line showing the exact date, and a Restore button.
Every page for that site is replaced by a single notice — "{site} is pending deletion" — showing how long the data is retained (Data retained for 7 more days), the permanent-deletion date, and the actions you're allowed to take. If your role can't act on it, the page says "Only account administrators can restore or delete this site."
The site's domain is still held. You can't attach the same hostname to another site in the same workspace or billing family until this one is purged; attempting it reports that the domain is still held by a site pending deletion.
Transactional Email for that site is suspended for the window, and comes back if the site is restored.

The deletion date is fixed when you delete the site and isn't recalculated afterwards. The window is 7 days unless your plan or workspace is set to something different, so treat the date shown on the page as authoritative rather than counting seven days yourself.

Restore a site that's pending deletion

Restoring re-purchases the site at the current rate for your plan and then revives the retained infrastructure — so your files and database come back as they were, without anything being re-provisioned.

In the left sidebar, open My Sites. Either click Restore on the pending-delete site's row, or open the site and click Restore site on the notice page. Both start the same flow. (Below the button, the dashboard notes: "Re-purchased at the current rate for your plan.")
CloudPress builds a cart for the same package, billing term, and location the site had and takes you straight to the checkout page.
Review the amount and complete the payment — the button reads Pay followed by the amount.
Once the payment settles, the site is attached to the new subscription, the pending deletion is cleared, and the site is powered back on. Its status returns to a normal running state and all of its pages become available again.

If restore isn't possible right now — for example the original package is no longer offered in that location — the dashboard says "This site can't be restored right now. Please contact support." Contact support in that case; they can start a paid restore for you.

Note

There's no notification or webhook event for a completed restore. Check the site in My Sites to confirm it's back up.

Delete a site permanently (purge)

If you'd rather not wait out the window — most often because you want to reuse the site's domain immediately — you can remove the site right away.

This can't be undone

Permanent deletion destroys the site's files, database, and all of its backups, and releases its domain. As the dashboard puts it, "The domain will be released and may become available for registration by others." There is no restore afterwards.

In the left sidebar, open My Sites and click the pending-delete site to open its notice page.
Click Purge now.
Read the Permanently delete this site? dialog carefully, then confirm. Confirm your identity if you're prompted to.
You're returned to My Sites with a message that the site is being permanently deleted and its domain released for reuse. The site disappears from the list once the teardown finishes.

If you do nothing instead, CloudPress purges the site automatically after the scheduled deletion date passes — the effect is identical.

Purging deletes the site's files, database, and backups, removes it from the CDN, and releases its domain records so the hostname can be used again.

Next steps

Note the Scheduled for deletion: date if you might want the site back
Download a copy of anything you want to keep — see Backing up and restoring a site
Purge the site if you need its domain on a new site right away