For AI agents: The documentation index is at https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with index.html.md in place of the HTML page (for example, append index.html.md to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

Create Droplets

1. From the Create menu at the top of the Control Panel, click Droplet.

2. Choose an image, which can be a Linux distribution, container distribution, one-click app, AI agent, snapshot, or backup.

3. Choose a plan and size for your Droplet, which determines its RAM, disk space, and vCPUs as well as its price. Learn more about how to choose the right Droplet plan.

The Droplet create screen has a number of options after this, which you can customize now or after creation. To accept the defaults, scroll to the bottom and click Create. Otherwise:

4. Optionally, add block storage.

5. Choose a datacenter region.

6. Select a VPC network for the Droplet.

7. Select additional options, like IPv6 and monitoring. These options come at no additional cost, and are easier to enable now than after creation.

8. Choose an SSH key, if you’ve added one, or create a root password for the Droplet.

9. Enter a name and click Create.

From here, you can follow our detailed guide on connecting to Droplets with SSH, or follow the instructions below.

Connect to Droplets

To connect by using a terminal on Linux, macOS, or Windows Subsystem for Linux:

1. Open your terminal, and enter the command ssh [email protected].

   Substitute in your Droplet’s IP address after the @. The username is root on most distributions.

2. Press ENTER and answer yes to the prompt that confirms the connection.

3. If you’re not using SSH keys, enter your password when prompted.

Windows users can alternatively connect with PuTTY.

When you’ve logged in, your command prompt changes and you see a welcome screen.

Destroy Droplets

Destroying a Droplet permanently and irreversibly destroys the Droplet and its contents. Optionally, you can also destroy associated snapshots, volumes, and volume snapshots.

Destroying a Droplet does not destroy its automated backups. They remain available until the end of their retention period, which is four weeks for weekly backups, seven days for daily backups, and a custom amount of time for usage-based backups. After you destroy the Droplet, the Backups tab of the Backups & Snapshots page lists its backups under its name. From there, you can create a Droplet from a backup, or convert a backup into a snapshot to keep it past its deletion date.

1. From the Control Panel, click the Droplet’s More menu and choose Destroy. The Droplet Danger Zone window opens.

2. Click the Destroy tab. If the Droplet has associated resources, check the boxes next to any associated snapshots, volumes, or volume snapshots that you would like to destroy along with the Droplet. The window does not list backups, which are kept until their deletion date.

3. Type the name of the Droplet in the confirmation field, then click Destroy to destroy the Droplet and any selected associated resources.

Associated resources that you do not destroy remain in your team, and billing continues for them.