# Amazon DocumentDB cluster lifecycle
<a name="db-cluster-life-cycle"></a>

The lifecycle of an Amazon DocumentDB cluster includes creating, describing, modifying, and deleting the cluster. This section provides information about how to complete these processes. 

**Topics**
+ [Creating a cluster](db-cluster-create.md)
+ [Describing clusters](db-cluster-view-details.md)
+ [Modifying a cluster](db-cluster-modify.md)
+ [Determining pending maintenance](db-cluster-determine-pending-maintenance.md)
+ [Patch updating a cluster's engine version](db-cluster-version-upgrade.md)
+ [Stopping and starting a cluster](db-cluster-stop-start.md)
+ [Deleting a cluster](db-cluster-delete.md)