How to Reassign or Unassign BYOIP IPs

Validated on 18 Sep 2025 • Last edited on 23 Mar 2026

DigitalOcean Reserved IPs are publicly-accessible static IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Assign and reassign reserved IP addresses to Droplets as needed, or implement an automated failover mechanism with reserved IPs to build a high availability infrastructure.

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Reassign a BYOIP IP Address Using Automation

Use the standard reserved IP assign actions to reassign BYOIP IP addresses. Substitute the address you’d like to reassign for any <reserved-ip> placeholders. You can only reassign BYOIP IPs to Droplets in the same datacenter.

How to Reassign a BYOIP Address Using the DigitalOcean CLI
  1. Install doctl, the official DigitalOcean CLI.
  2. Create a personal access token and save it for use with doctl.
  3. Use the token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account. 
    doctl auth init
  4. Finally, run doctl compute reserved-ip-action assign. Basic usage looks like this, but you can read the usage docs for more details: 
    doctl compute reserved-ip-action assign <reserved-ip> <droplet-id> [flags]
    The following example assigns the reserved IP address 203.0.113.25 to a Droplet with the ID 386734086: 
    doctl compute reserved-ip-action assign 203.0.113.25 386734086
How to Reassign a BYOIP Address Using the DigitalOcean API
  1. Create a personal access token and save it for use with the API.
  2. Send a POST request to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/{reserved_ip}/actions.

cURL

Using cURL:

# Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"assign","droplet_id":8219222}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/45.55.96.47/actions"

# Unassign a Reserved IP
# curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"unassign"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/45.55.96.47/actions"

Go

Using Godo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Go:

import (
    "context"
    "os"

    "github.com/digitalocean/godo"
)

func main() {
    token := os.Getenv("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN")

    client := godo.NewFromToken(token)
    ctx := context.TODO()

  // Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
    action, _, err := client.ReservedIPActions.Assign(ctx, "45.55.96.47", 8219222)

  // Unassign a Reserved IP
  action, _, err := client.ReservedIPActions.Unassign(ctx, "45.55.96.47")  
}

Ruby

Using DropletKit, the official DigitalOcean API client for Ruby:

require 'droplet_kit'
token = ENV['DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN']
client = DropletKit::Client.new(access_token: token)

# Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
client.reserved_ip_actions.assign(ip: '45.55.96.47', droplet_id: 8219222)

# Unassign a Reserved IP
# client.reserved_ip_actions.unassign(ip: '45.55.96.47')

Python

Using PyDo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Python:

import os
from pydo import Client

client = Client(token=os.environ.get("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN"))

req={
  "type": "unassign"
}

resp = client.reserved_ips_actions.post(reserved_ip="49.32.13.21", body=req)

Reassign a BYOIP IP Address Using the Control Panel

To reassign a BYOIP IP address from the control panel, in the main menu, click Networking, click Reserved IPs to see a list of your reserved IPs and BYOIP prefixes.

Click the prefix that contains the IP address you’d like to reassign. You’re taken to a page with details about your BYOIP prefix, including a list of IP address that are assigned to Droplets.

Find the IP address in the list, click its … context menu, and then click Reassign.

In the Reassign window, select a Droplet to reassign the IP address to, and then click Reassign Reserved IP. You can only reassign BYOIP IPs to Droplets in the same datacenter.

Unassign a BYOIP IP Address Using Automation

Use the standard reserved IP unassign actions to unassign BYOIP IP addresses. Substitute the address you’d like to unassign for any <reserved-ip> placeholders.

How to Unassign a BYOIP Address Using the DigitalOcean CLI
  1. Install doctl, the official DigitalOcean CLI.
  2. Create a personal access token and save it for use with doctl.
  3. Use the token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account. 
    doctl auth init
  4. Finally, run doctl compute reserved-ip-action unassign. Basic usage looks like this, but you can read the usage docs for more details: 
    doctl compute reserved-ip-action unassign <reserved-ip> [flags]
    The following example unassigns the reserved IP address 203.0.113.25 from a resource: 
    doctl compute reserved-ip-action unassign 203.0.113.25
How to Unassign a BYOIP Address Using the DigitalOcean API
  1. Create a personal access token and save it for use with the API.
  2. Send a POST request to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/{reserved_ip}/actions.

cURL

Using cURL:

# Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"assign","droplet_id":8219222}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/45.55.96.47/actions"

# Unassign a Reserved IP
# curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"unassign"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/reserved_ips/45.55.96.47/actions"

Go

Using Godo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Go:

import (
    "context"
    "os"

    "github.com/digitalocean/godo"
)

func main() {
    token := os.Getenv("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN")

    client := godo.NewFromToken(token)
    ctx := context.TODO()

  // Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
    action, _, err := client.ReservedIPActions.Assign(ctx, "45.55.96.47", 8219222)

  // Unassign a Reserved IP
  action, _, err := client.ReservedIPActions.Unassign(ctx, "45.55.96.47")  
}

Ruby

Using DropletKit, the official DigitalOcean API client for Ruby:

require 'droplet_kit'
token = ENV['DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN']
client = DropletKit::Client.new(access_token: token)

# Assign a Reserved IP to a Droplet
client.reserved_ip_actions.assign(ip: '45.55.96.47', droplet_id: 8219222)

# Unassign a Reserved IP
# client.reserved_ip_actions.unassign(ip: '45.55.96.47')

Python

Using PyDo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Python:

import os
from pydo import Client

client = Client(token=os.environ.get("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN"))

req={
  "type": "unassign"
}

resp = client.reserved_ips_actions.post(reserved_ip="49.32.13.21", body=req)

Unassign a BYOIP IP Address Using the Control Panel

To unassign a BYOIP IP address from the control panel, in the main menu, click Networking, and then click Reserved IPs to a list of your reserved IPs and BYOIP prefixes.

Click the prefix that contains the IP address you’d like to unassign. A page with details about your BYOIP prefix loads, including a list of IP address that are assigned to Droplets.

Find the IP address in the list, click its … context menu, and then click Unassign.

In the Unassign window, type the name of the currently assigned Droplet to confirm, and then click Unassign IP address.

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