---
title: Orphan vs Destroy
description: destroy deletes AWS resources and cdkd state; orphan removes only the state record — per resource or per stack — leaving the AWS resources intact.
---

# Orphan vs Destroy

`destroy` deletes the AWS resources **and** the state record;
`orphan` deletes **only** the state record (AWS resources stay
intact, just no longer tracked by cdkd). Mirrors aws-cdk-cli's
`cdk orphan`.

Two `orphan` variants at different granularities:

- `cdkd orphan <constructPath>...` — synth-driven, **per-resource**.
  Rewrites every sibling reference (Ref / Fn::GetAtt / Fn::Sub /
  dependencies) so the next deploy doesn't re-create the orphan.
- `cdkd state orphan <stack>...` — state-driven, **whole-stack**.
  Removes the entire state record. Works without the CDK app.

Both `cdkd destroy` (synth-driven) and `cdkd state destroy`
(state-driven, no synth) delete AWS resources + state.