# Uninstalling

## The default

```bash
nodeau uninstall
```

Removes Nodeau's own components: the controller, the node agent, its custom
resources, its namespaces and the local endpoint service.

It **keeps**, by default:

- your **NVIDIA driver** — always, under every flag
- your **downloaded models** — gigabytes you chose to fetch
- **Kubernetes**, if it was on the machine before Nodeau
- the **NVIDIA Container Toolkit**, for the same reason
- anything else running on your cluster

It prints the full plan and asks before doing anything.

## Ownership, and why it decides everything

Nodeau records what it installed, as distinct from what it found. Uninstall
consults that record.

If K3s was already on your machine, Nodeau adopted it — and will refuse to
remove it even if you ask, because it is not Nodeau's to delete. You will see a
refusal with the reason, not silence.

## Removing more, deliberately

Each flag names exactly what it destroys.

```bash
nodeau uninstall --remove-models
```

Deletes the model cache. You will re-download several gigabytes to use Nodeau
again.

```bash
nodeau uninstall --remove-managed-k3s
```

Removes K3s **only if Nodeau installed it**. This deletes the cluster
datastore and every local-path volume on the machine, including workloads
unrelated to Nodeau. If Nodeau did not install K3s, this is refused.

```bash
nodeau uninstall --purge
```

All of the above. Still refuses anything Nodeau did not install. Still never
touches your GPU driver.

## Removing the binary

`uninstall` does not delete the CLI you are running. When you are done:

```bash
rm ~/.local/bin/nodeau
rm -rf ~/.config/nodeau ~/.local/state/nodeau
```

## What is never removed

Your NVIDIA driver. Secure Boot settings. Your bootloader. Your partitions.
Any Windows installation. Nodeau does not manage these and will not remove
them under any flag.