---
title: "calicoctl ipam release"
description: "Reference for the calicoctl IPAM release command in Calico Enterprise, used to release a leaked or stale IP address back to the pool."
product: "Calico Enterprise"
version: "3.23 (latest)"
section: "Reference"
canonical_url: "https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/clis/calicoctl/ipam/release"
---

# calicoctl ipam release

This section describes the `calicoctl ipam release` command.

Read the [calicoctl overview](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/clis/calicoctl/overview.md) for a full list of calicoctl commands.

## Displaying the help text for 'calicoctl ipam release' command

Run `calicoctl ipam release --help` to display the following help menu for the command.

```text
Usage:
  calicoctl ipam release [--ip=<IP>] [--from-report=<REPORT>] [--config=<CONFIG>]

Options:
  -h --help                   Show this screen.
     --ip=<IP>                IP address to release.
     --from-report=<REPORT>   Release all leaked addresses from the report.
  -c --config=<CONFIG>        Path to the file containing connection configuration in
                              YAML or JSON format.
                              [default: /etc/calico/calicoctl.cfg]

Description:
  The ipam release command releases an IP address from the Calico IP Address
  Manager that was been previously assigned to an endpoint.  When an IP address
  is released, it becomes available for assignment to any endpoint.

  Note that this does not remove the IP from any existing endpoints that may be
  using it, so only use this command to clean up addresses from endpoints that
  were not cleanly removed from Calico.
```

### Examples

```bash
calicoctl ipam release --ip=192.168.1.2
```

```bash
calicoctl ipam release --from-report=./report.json
```

### General options

```text
-c --config=<CONFIG>      Path to the file containing connection
                          configuration in YAML or JSON format.
                          [default: /etc/calico/calicoctl.cfg]
```

## See also

- [Installing calicoctl](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/operations/clis/calicoctl/install.md)