Docs · Reference

Uninstalling

Nodeau removes what Nodeau installed and keeps everything else, even if you ask it to go further. That is what the ownership ledger is for.

Look first#

Terminal

nodeau uninstall --dry-run

The full plan is printed before anything happens, and each option that deletes something is named for exactly what it deletes. There is deliberately no flag that means "remove more" without saying what.

The ownership ledger#

When nodeau install runs, it records, at /var/lib/nodeau/install-state.json on Linux, which components it installed and which it adopted because they were already there.

Uninstall reads that ledger, and a component Nodeau adopted is left exactly as it was found. That is also why running nodeau install again never re-decides who owns a component: changing that record later would change what an uninstall is allowed to touch.

The removal set comes from the same manifests the install applies, so every component Nodeau installs is one it knows how to remove.

Ownership is also decided entry by entry in the model cache and the runtime directory, and the rule leans toward keeping: an entry without a Nodeau manifest stays, whatever the ledger says.

Linux#

Terminal

nodeau uninstall

Removed#

Nodeau's controller and node agent
Its custom resource definitions
Its namespaces
Your local endpoint services
The per-device GPU driver and the device plugin, when Nodeau installed them

Kept by default#

	Why
Your NVIDIA driver	Always, under every flag. It was yours before Nodeau and stays yours
Your downloaded models	Gigabytes you chose to fetch
Your batch inputs and results	They exist nowhere else
Kubernetes	When it was here before Nodeau
The NVIDIA Container Toolkit	For the same reason
Your API key and account link	Local files you own

Removing more, on purpose#

Flag	What it deletes
`--remove-models`	Downloaded model weights. Gigabytes, which you would download again to use them
`--remove-batch-data`	Every batch job's input records and results. These exist nowhere else: unlike model weights, they cannot be downloaded again
`--remove-managed-k3s`	K3s, when Nodeau installed it
`--remove-toolkit`	The NVIDIA Container Toolkit, when Nodeau installed it
`--purge`	Every option above at once

The other flags are --dry-run, --yes/-y, --namespace/-n and --state <path>.

Removing Kubernetes#

When Nodeau installed K3s, --remove-managed-k3s removes it. Nodeau also prints the root commands that tidy up what a K3s removal can leave behind, such as directories under /run, for you to read and run yourself.

macOS#

A Mac runs standalone, so there is no fleet membership to remove and no other machine to tell.

Terminal

nodeau uninstall --dry-run
nodeau uninstall

It removes what nodeau install put there and leaves everything else. A model runtime you assembled yourself, a PATH line you wrote, or a copy of nodeau you manage yourself all stay, and the plan says so.

Flag	What it does
`--dry-run`	Show what would be removed and stop
`--yes`, `-y`	Skip the confirmation
`--models`	Also delete downloaded model weights
`--keep-path`	Leave the `PATH` line in your login profile
`--state <path>`	Path to the install ledger

Your downloaded models are kept unless you pass --models. Uninstalling the software and throwing away gigabytes of downloads are two different decisions.

Your account and your fleet#

nodeau uninstall works on this machine only. Three things are separate steps, each done where it belongs:

Terminal

nodeau logout                       # unlink this machine, locally
nodeau fleet remove <machine>       # from the machine that runs the control plane

Unlinking from your account: nodeau logout here, and remove the installation in your account at app.nodeau.ai to free its slot.
Leaving a fleet: nodeau fleet remove, run from another machine, because a machine that is gone cannot remove itself. See removing a machine.
Your subscription: managed from your account at app.nodeau.ai.

What stays, on purpose#

After a plain uninstall you still have:

~/.local/bin/nodeau and nodeau-fleet, the binaries the bootstrap put in a directory you own. Delete them yourself whenever you like.
~/.config/nodeau/: your API key, account link and entitlement.
/var/lib/nodeau/models/: your downloaded weights.
/var/lib/nodeau/batch/: your batch records.
Your NVIDIA driver, Secure Boot configuration, bootloader and partitions, exactly as they were.

Checking afterwards#

Terminal

nodeau doctor --host-only

On a machine Nodeau has been removed from, NODEAU_NOT_INSTALLED is the right answer.

These docs describe the current release, the beta channel. Spotted something wrong or missing? Tell us. A report from a machine we have never seen is the most useful thing we get.