How to shutdown an app deployed on Heroku?

Question

I have an app on Heroku which is being used by few users. However, I notice there are some data issues which I'd like to fix and stop the app in the mean time so users don't enter anything new.

Is there a way to stop the app on Heroku rather than destroying it? I see that restart server command is there... Although I don't see anything like 'stop'.

score 369 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 19 '12 at 15:27

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To completely 'stop' your app you can scale the web dynos down to zero which effectively takes all your app http-processes offline.

$ heroku ps:scale web=0
Scaling web processes... done, now running 0

answered Apr 19 '12 at 15:27

Ryan Daigle

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good idea here but I think you meant '$ heroku ps:scale app=0' – jrob00 Jul 11 '12 at 00:27
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Excuse my noobness, it appears either commands may be appropriate. Cheers – jrob00 Jul 11 '12 at 08:07
`heroku ps:scale` operates on dynos, so you have to explicitly specify the dyno type to affect. – Ryan Daigle Jul 11 '12 at 17:47
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When you've fixed what you want to, don't forget to do: `heroku ps:scale web=1` again, or else your app will never revive... – mjnissim Jul 12 '12 at 08:33
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This is the correct solution. Maintenance mode does not actually stop the app, It only prevents traffic to it. This should be the accepted answer. – jhoff Jul 26 '12 at 15:39
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In Rails, if your Procfile has a line started with web, then use `heroku ps:scale web=0`, else you may receive `no such process type app defined in Procfile.` – Minh Triet Sep 18 '14 at 07:51
Agree, maintenance also doesnt stop the workers, scheduler etc. – Mike P. Dec 30 '14 at 16:27
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Keep in mind that if you have listed other process types in your Procfile that you'll need to set those to zero as well. – user3344977 Oct 04 '16 at 17:23
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Typing just this prompts me a syntax error. I know this answer is like 9 years old but just saying. Today you gotta add `-a ` adding your app's name to that command and it should be fine. – Thielicious Mar 16 '21 at 11:56

score 193 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 30 '14 at 06:50

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http://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/maintenance-mode

If you’re deploying a large migration or need to disable access to your application for some length of time, you can use Heroku’s built in maintenance mode. It will serve a static page to all visitors, while still allowing you to run rake tasks or console commands.

$ heroku maintenance:on
Maintenance mode enabled.

and later

$ heroku maintenance:off
Maintenance mode disabled.

edited Jun 30 '14 at 06:50

Kevan Ahlquist

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answered May 18 '10 at 00:29

daniel

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I needed to shut down my Heroku app to test a monitoring service (Pingdom). There doesn't seem to be a way to completely stop an app without destroying it, the maintenance mode returns HTTP status 503, so it's suitable for triggering the monitoring service. – Jo Liss Jan 30 '12 at 15:00

Juanma Menendez · Answer 3 · 2022-10-16T12:32:35.250

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Simple steps from the Heroku Web

go to Dashboard
click in "Your App Name"
click in Resources tab
click in the Pencil icon (look the attached image)
Flip the switch to left
click in Confirm

edited Oct 16 '22 at 12:32

answered Jun 07 '19 at 18:01

Juanma Menendez

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If you run `heroku logs --tail` and then do this, you'll see that it's the same as running `heroku ps:scale web=0` – Hayden Linder Sep 22 '21 at 03:28

zero_cool · Answer 4 · 2017-11-13T05:46:20.207

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Go to your dashboard on heroku. Select the app. There is a dynos section. Just pull the sliders for the dynos down, (a decrease in dynos is to the left), to the number of dynos you want to be running. The slider goes to 0. Then save your changes. Boom.

According to the comment below: there is a pencil icon that needs to be clicked to accomplish this. I have not checked - but am putting it here in case it helps.

edited Nov 13 '17 at 05:46

answered Feb 07 '14 at 23:47

zero_cool

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Ah, thank you. In the newer dashboard you first have to click the little pencil icon to put the app into edit mode, then you can work the slider. – mwp Nov 13 '15 at 20:34
This setting now can be found under *Resources* section. – Ritam Chakraborty Jul 07 '22 at 18:53

score 42 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 14 '15 at 05:21

You might have to be more specific and specify the app name as well (this is the name of the app as you have it in heroku). For example:

heroku ps:scale web=0 --app myAppName

Otherwise you might get the following message:

 % heroku ps:scale web=0
Scaling dynos... failed
 !    No app specified.
 !    Run this command from an app folder or specify which app to use with --app APP.

score 23 · Answer 6 · answered May 21 '19 at 11:25

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You can disable the app using enable maintenance mode from the admin panel.

Go to settings tabs.
In bottom just before deleting the app. enable maintenance mode. see in the screenshot below.

answered May 21 '19 at 11:25

imran khan

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Simple to use and elegant. – Tomer Oct 11 '19 at 15:41
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Maintenance mode doesn't stop the dyno, it just block all incoming HTTP requests. If you have some background process running, it will keep running. See Heroku doc: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/maintenance-mode – Antoine Beloeuvre Jan 20 '20 at 11:22
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That doesn't mean that app is stopped, corn jobs for example will keep executing – maysara Sep 15 '20 at 17:35

score 11 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 11 '19 at 11:10

To add to the answers above: if you want to stop Dyno using admin panel, the current solution on free tier:

Open App
In Overview tab, in "Dyno formation" section click on "Configure Dynos"
In the needed row of "Free Dynos" section, click on the pencil icon on the right
Click on the blue on/off control, and then click on "Confirm"

Hope this helps.

Michael K · Answer 8 · 2021-06-04T14:28:34.327

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CMD: install The Heroku CLI https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-cli#download-and-install

press win+r, type "cmd" press enter

heroku login # login  
heroku ps:scale worker=0 -a your_app_name

GIU: https://dashboard.heroku.com/apps
Personal==> ==> Resources > click on Pencil Icon and drag to left side > confirm
then Dynos will go down.

edited Jun 04 '21 at 14:28

answered Jun 04 '21 at 14:21

Michael K

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score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 01 '13 at 11:24

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If you are using eclipse plugin, double click on the app-name in My Heroku Applications. In Processes tab, press Scale Button. A small window will pop-up. Increase/decrease the count and just say OK.

answered Apr 01 '13 at 11:24

ats

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 29 '16 at 00:26

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To DELETE your Heroku app

This is for those looking to DELETE an app on their Heroku account. Sometimes you end up here when trying to find out how to remove/delete an app.

WARNING: This is irreversible!

Go to your Heroku dashboard here
Select the app you want to delete.
Scroll down to the bottom of the settings page for that app.
Press the red Delete app... button.

answered Dec 29 '16 at 00:26

CodeValve

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OP explicitly stated that they want to "stop the app on heroku rather than destroying it". I only point this out because for whatever reason Bing shows this response as the answer. – Yoshi Askharoun May 07 '20 at 03:23
Thanks! Maybe this should be moved to a different area? – CodeValve Jun 29 '20 at 15:22

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Feb 23 '21 at 06:40

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1> Yes... There is pencil icon when we go to Personal==> <app name> ==>Resources then click on Pencil Icon and drag to left side and Dynos will go down.

2> You can validate using Heroku cli

heroku logs --app {your-appname}

it worked for me.

edited Feb 23 '21 at 06:40

My Work

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answered Feb 21 '21 at 07:16

Lokesh Rudraradhya

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How to shutdown an app deployed on Heroku?

11 Answers11

To DELETE your Heroku app

Linked