# Remove BasaltDB

Remove the guard, the ledger and the BasaltDB roles from your Postgres with basalt uninstall, and see what is left behind.

Removing BasaltDB takes a few commands. Your tables and your rows are not touched. The record of what agents did is deleted with it, so you cannot undo agent runs afterwards. Read [what goes and what stays](#what-goes-and-what-stays) first.

## 1. Disconnect the agent

Remove the BasaltDB server from the agent's MCP client, so the agent stops calling it. For Claude Code:

```sh
claude mcp remove basalt-demo_bot
```

For another client, delete the `basalt-<name>` entry from its config. See [Connect an agent](/start/connect-agent/).

## 2. Remove the passkey from the database

Skip this if you do not mind leaving the passkey on your devices. `basalt passkey remove` also prints a link that asks your devices to drop the passkey, and it only works while the guard still exists.

```sh
basalt passkey list --agent NAME
basalt passkey remove PASSKEY_ID
```

Take `PASSKEY_ID` from the `list` output. `remove` asks for the admin connection string, then asks you to confirm. If it is your last passkey, the command refuses unless you add `--force`, and then asks you to type the passkey's label to confirm, even with `--yes`. That is fine here, because you are removing everything. The command prints a `/passkeys/forget` link: open it on each device that holds the passkey.

See [Passkeys](/guides/passkeys/).

## 3. Uninstall the guard

```sh
basalt uninstall
```

It asks for the admin connection string, the same way `basalt init` does: a hidden prompt, or `BASALT_ADMIN_DATABASE_URL`. It then asks:

```text
Drop basalt_meta, the ledger, every basalt_* role and the demo schema basalt_demo, if init --demo made it? [y/N]
```

Answer `y`. You see:

```text
basalt: guard uninstalled; credential files of its agents no longer work
```

## 4. Remove the engine service

If you installed the engine as a background service:

```sh
sudo basalt service uninstall
```

This stops the service and removes it. If you ran the engine in the foreground, stop it with Ctrl-C.

## 5. Remove the demo data

`basalt uninstall` already drops the sample schema `basalt_demo` when `basalt init --demo` made it. If you ran the demo on Docker, you can also remove the container.

```sh
docker rm -f basalt-demo
```

## 6. Check that nothing is left

Run both queries as your admin role. Each returns no rows.

```sql
SELECT nspname FROM pg_namespace WHERE nspname IN ('basalt_meta', 'basalt_demo');
SELECT rolname FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname LIKE 'basalt\_%';
```

## What goes and what stays

Removed by `basalt uninstall`:

- The `basalt_meta` schema, which holds the ledger, the old values and your passkeys' public keys.
- The guard's triggers and policies on your tables.
- The `basalt_*` roles, including every agent's role. The agents' credential files stop working.

Removed by `sudo basalt service uninstall`: the engine's background service.

Left in place:

- **Your tables and your rows.** Rows an agent changed stay as they are now. Nothing is undone.
- **Policies you wrote by hand.** Uninstall drops the policies that `basalt init` added, such as the one that lets an agent see rows. A policy you created yourself stays.
- **The engine's files on its machine:** the config (`engine.json`), the agent's credential file and the state directory. They are of no use after uninstall, so you can delete them. The config is `/etc/basalt/engine.json` on Linux and `/Library/Application Support/Basalt/engine.json` on macOS.
- **The `basalt` program.** Delete it as you installed it.
- **Your passkey on your devices.** Uninstall cannot reach them. Delete it in your password manager or browser settings, if you do not want to keep it. Step 2 prints a link that asks the browser to forget it, where the browser supports it.

## A bot on its own computer

`basalt uninstall` runs on your own computer, with the admin connection string. Never run it on the bot's machine. Ask the bot to stop its engine and remove its files on its own machine. Then run steps 3, 5 and 6 yourself.

## Next

- [Install](/start/install/): set BasaltDB up again.
- [The ledger](/concepts/ledger/): what is deleted with `basalt_meta`.