Tear down MDK services

Overview

MDK registers graceful shutdown handlers automatically when you start services with getKernel(), startWorker(), or startGateway(). For most deployments, SIGINT (Ctrl+C) triggers a clean teardown with no extra code. This guide covers the three situations where you need to think about teardown explicitly:

Automatic teardown
Explicit teardown
Custom signal handling

Prerequisites

Familiarity with the Gateway
MDK installed and a working boot sequence

Automatic teardown with `getKernel()`

getKernel() registers SIGINT/SIGTERM handlers internally. Any Workers or Gateway instances started with opts.kernel are chained into the cleanup sequence automatically — no extra code needed.

const { getKernel, startWorker, startGateway } = require('@tetherto/mdk')
const { WM_M56S } = require('@tetherto/mdk-worker-whatsminer')

const kernel = await getKernel()
const { manager } = await startWorker(WM_M56S, { kernel })
await startGateway({ kernel, port: 3000, noAuth: true })

// Press Ctrl+C — MDK stops Gateway, Worker, then Kernel automatically.

See getKernel API reference.

Explicit teardown in tests or scripted runs

Short-lived processes — integration tests, one-shot scripts — never receive SIGINT. Call shutdown(kernel) directly to drain the full cleanup chain. Pass the kernel object returned by getKernel(); passing a server object stops only the Gateway.

const { getKernel, startGateway, shutdown } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

const kernel = await getKernel()
await startGateway({ kernel, noAuth: true })

// … run assertions or perform work …

await shutdown(kernel) // stops Gateway (chained), then stops Kernel

See shutdown API reference.

Custom signal handling with `onShutdown`

Use onShutdown when you need to close resources outside an MDK boot object — for example, a database connection or a log buffer.

const { onShutdown } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

onShutdown(async () => {
  await db.close()
  await logger.flush()
}, { forceMs: 5000 })

See onShutdown API reference.

What just happened

Automatic chain: getKernel(), startWorker({ kernel }), and startGateway({ kernel }) wire themselves into kernel._cleanup so a single signal stops everything in order.
Explicit drain: shutdown(kernel) gives you the same ordered teardown on demand, without a signal.
Custom hooks: onShutdown(fn) lets you attach cleanup logic outside the MDK object hierarchy.

Next steps

Full API reference — @tetherto/mdk README
Run the Gateway