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Pausing a DigitalOcean MicroVM suspends the MicroVM and preserves its memory, files, and running processes, so it resumes where it left off. A paused MicroVM incurs storage charges only.

MicroVMs pause automatically after their idle timeout, and resume on the next request when auto-resume is on. You can also pause and resume a MicroVM manually. With auto-resume off, a paused MicroVM stays paused until you resume it. For details, see MicroVM Lifecycle.

Pause or Resume a MicroVM Using the Control Panel

Go to the MicroVMs page, select the MicroVM, then click Pause or Resume. You can also open the MicroVM’s … menu on the MicroVMs page and click Pause MicroVM or Resume MicroVM. Confirm in the window that opens.

Pause or Resume a MicroVM Using doctl

Pause the MicroVM:

doctl compute microvm pause <your-microvm-id>

Resume the MicroVM:

doctl compute microvm resume <your-microvm-id>

Pause or Resume a MicroVM Using the API

Send a POST request to /v2/microvms/<your-microvm-id>/pause to pause the MicroVM:

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/microvms/<your-microvm-id>/pause"

Send a POST request to /v2/microvms/<your-microvm-id>/resume to resume the MicroVM:

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/microvms/<your-microvm-id>/resume"

Both requests return when the change completes. Sending either request when the MicroVM is already in that state succeeds. Both return HTTP 400 when the MicroVM is creating, terminated, or failed.