---
layout: docs
page_title: operator seal - Command
description: >-
  The "operator seal" command seals the Vault server. Sealing tells the Vault
  server to

  stop responding to any operations until it is unsealed. When sealed, the Vault

  server discards its in-memory root key to unlock the data, so it is

  physically blocked from responding to operations unsealed.
---

> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation, which were located in this repository under `/website`, are now located in [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs), colocated with all other product documentation. Contributions to this content should be done in the `web-unified-docs` repo, and not this one. Changes made to `/website` content in this repo will not be reflected on the developer.hashicorp.com website.

# operator seal

The `operator seal` seals the Vault server. Sealing tells the Vault server to
stop responding to any operations until it is unsealed. When sealed, the Vault
server discards its in-memory root key to unlock the data, so it is physically
blocked from responding to operations unsealed.

If an unseal is in progress, sealing the Vault will reset the unsealing process.
Users will have to re-enter their portions of the root key again.

This command does nothing if the Vault server is already sealed.

For more information on sealing and unsealing, please the [seal concepts
page](/vault/docs/concepts/seal).

## Examples

Seal a Vault server:

```shell-session
$ vault operator seal
Success! Vault is sealed.
```

## Usage

There are no flags beyond the [standard set of flags](/vault/docs/commands)
included on all commands.