# Give a Dead Side Project an Exit Report, Not an AI Eulogy

> Source: <https://dev.to/rivera123/give-a-dead-side-project-an-exit-report-not-an-ai-eulogy-38kp>
> Published: 2026-07-13 02:41:34+00:00

The internet is having fun with AI eulogies for dead side projects. I like the joke. I trust a boring exit report more.

A project is not finished when I stop opening the repository. It is finished when it stops costing money, holding credentials, collecting data, and depending on knowledge that exists only in my head.

Create `EXIT.md`

with five sections:

```
# Exit report

## Decision
Stopped on: YYYY-MM-DD
Primary reason: distribution / usefulness / cost / time / technical risk

## Current state
Last working revision:
Deployments:
Data stores:
Monthly cost:

## Shutdown
- [ ] disable scheduled jobs and webhooks
- [ ] revoke tokens and OAuth grants
- [ ] export or delete user data
- [ ] remove DNS and deployments
- [ ] verify billing after one cycle

## Reusable assets
Libraries, schemas, UI pieces, research, domain, audience

## Restart conditions
Evidence that would justify reopening the project
```

Run a credential search, inspect provider dashboards, and list recurring charges. Do not paste secrets into the report. Record where a credential was revoked and when.

Write three numbers you can verify: active users in a declared window, actual monthly infrastructure cost, and active hours spent on the last meaningful feature. If analytics were never installed, say “unknown.” A confident narrative built from missing data is not a retrospective.

Separate the reason you stopped from what the project taught. “I lost interest” can be true while the caching module is still reusable. Extract only assets with a real next owner; otherwise archive them in place and stop creating maintenance obligations.

Define restart conditions such as “five teams request the same workflow” or “the API cost falls below $X per completed task.” This prevents a quiet weekend from masquerading as new evidence.

The public [MonkeyCode repository](https://github.com/chaitin/MonkeyCode) describes managed development environments and AI task workflows. It could be evaluated as infrastructure for future team projects, but it does not replace project-level shutdown, export, credential, and cost controls. I did not use MonkeyCode for this template.

Disclosure: I contribute to the MonkeyCode project. The exit-report method is independent; the product description comes from public documentation.

An exit report is less dramatic than a graveyard. It is also the document that saves next year's builder from repeating this year's cleanup.