Delete an ECS task definition using AWS CLI

Installation

Download the script below and use chmod to make it executable:

chmod +x delete-tasks.sh

Script

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#!/bin/bash -ex

TASKNAME=<task name>
START=1 # the first number of the task revision to loop through
END=1000 # The last number to stop the delete loop at

# This function will deregister the task definition
for (( x=$START; x<=$END; x++ ))
do
        aws ecs deregister-task-definition --task-definition $TASKNAME:$x --no-cli-pager
        sleep 5
        echo "The task $TASKNAME and revision $x has been deregistered"
done

# This function will delete the task definition
for (( y=$START; y<=$END; y++ ))
do
        aws ecs delete-task-definitions --task-definitions $TASKNAME:$y --no-cli-pager
        sleep 5
        echo "The task $TASKNAME and revision $y has been deleted"
done

Usage

Modify the following variables to use the script:

• TASKNAME - The task definition family to delete from. Use aws ecs list-task-definitions to list task definitions if you are unsure.
• START - The revision number to start deleting from
• END - The revision number to stop deleting at

Note that task definitions are 1 based, not zero based, so to delete the first 1000 task definition revisions set START=1 and END=1000

ℹ️ Info: Deleting task definitions may take a while. The task definitions will not be instantly deleted. Instead they will transition to DELETE_IN_PROGRESS state and ECS will gradually clean up these task definitions in the background when they are no longer in use by any ECS services or running tasks.

See also

• AWS Containers Blog about task definition delete
• Instructions for how to delete task definitions in the AWS console