# Retirement This is the last stage in the life of a Vault. To retire or decommission a vault, the use of an emergency proposal called **Vault Stop** is necessary. **Vault Stop** disallows the vault contract from accepting new funds. Secondary function of **Vault Stop** may include withdrawing all assets from the underlying strategy protocols to the safety of the vault contract itself. This is a safety mechanism meant to allow users to claim their deposited assets, regardless of the state of external protocols. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://elanu-sheetmaster.gitbook.io/y-foundry/info/references/life-cycle/retirement.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.