Why Dead Side Projects Need an Exit Report, Not Just an AI Eulogy

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A software developer argues that abandoned side projects are not truly finished until they stop incurring costs, holding credentials, and storing data. The author proposes a structured EXIT.md document covering five areas: the decision to stop, current project state, a shutdown checklist, reusable assets, and conditions for restarting. The checklist includes revoking tokens, deleting or exporting user data, removing deployments, and verifying billing after one cycle. The author emphasizes honesty over narrative, noting that unknown metrics should be labeled as such rather than replaced with confident guesswork. The goal is to leave a clear record that spares future developers from repeating the same cleanup work.

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