diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index d208395444f5e7..5f8725f6fc752d 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   include DomainControlHelper
   include DatabaseHelper
   include AuthorizedFetchHelper
+  include SelfDestructHelper
 
   helper_method :current_account
   helper_method :current_session
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ def respond_with_error(code)
   end
 
   def check_self_destruct!
-    return unless ENV.fetch('SELF_DESTRUCT', nil) && ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
+    return unless self_destruct?
 
     respond_to do |format|
       format.any  { render 'errors/self_destruct', layout: 'auth', status: 410, formats: [:html] }
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 4b25b978f0fdee..5f9d7e7c484c2d 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -168,10 +168,6 @@ def cdn_host?
     cdn_host.present?
   end
 
-  def self_destruct?
-    ENV.fetch('SELF_DESTRUCT', nil) && ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
-  end
-
   def storage_host
     "https://#{storage_host_var}"
   end
diff --git a/app/helpers/self_destruct_helper.rb b/app/helpers/self_destruct_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..c77c0ccfdb9400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/helpers/self_destruct_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module SelfDestructHelper
+  def self.self_destruct?
+    ENV.fetch('SELF_DESTRUCT', nil).present? && Rails.application.message_verifier('self-destruct').verify(ENV.fetch('SELF_DESTRUCT', nil)) == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
+  rescue ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
+    false
+  end
+
+  def self_destruct?
+    SelfDestructHelper.self_destruct?
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/workers/scheduler/accounts_statuses_cleanup_scheduler.rb b/app/workers/scheduler/accounts_statuses_cleanup_scheduler.rb
index b2020c7521e2a0..5c644fec7cbdfb 100644
--- a/app/workers/scheduler/accounts_statuses_cleanup_scheduler.rb
+++ b/app/workers/scheduler/accounts_statuses_cleanup_scheduler.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 class Scheduler::AccountsStatusesCleanupScheduler
   include Sidekiq::Worker
   include Redisable
+  include SelfDestructHelper
 
   # This limit is mostly to be nice to the fediverse at large and not
   # generate too much traffic.
@@ -35,8 +36,7 @@ class Scheduler::AccountsStatusesCleanupScheduler
   sidekiq_options retry: 0, lock: :until_executed, lock_ttl: 1.day.to_i
 
   def perform
-    return if ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] && ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
-    return if under_load?
+    return if self_destruct? || under_load?
 
     budget = compute_budget
 
diff --git a/app/workers/scheduler/self_destruct_scheduler.rb b/app/workers/scheduler/self_destruct_scheduler.rb
index 929edef700a579..5249650921629d 100644
--- a/app/workers/scheduler/self_destruct_scheduler.rb
+++ b/app/workers/scheduler/self_destruct_scheduler.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 class Scheduler::SelfDestructScheduler
   include Sidekiq::Worker
+  include SelfDestructHelper
 
   MAX_ENQUEUED = 10_000
   MAX_REDIS_MEM_USAGE = 0.5
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ class Scheduler::SelfDestructScheduler
   sidekiq_options retry: 0, lock: :until_executed, lock_ttl: 1.day.to_i
 
   def perform
-    return unless ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] && ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
+    return unless self_destruct?
     return if sidekiq_overwhelmed?
 
     delete_accounts!
@@ -37,6 +38,10 @@ def delete_accounts!
     end
   end
 
+  def inboxes
+    @inboxes ||= Account.inboxes
+  end
+
   def delete_account!(account)
     payload = ActiveModelSerializers::SerializableResource.new(
       account,
diff --git a/config/navigation.rb b/config/navigation.rb
index cd9a6c120a986a..1e7acf3b9c61d8 100644
--- a/config/navigation.rb
+++ b/config/navigation.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 SimpleNavigation::Configuration.run do |navigation|
-  self_destruct = ENV.fetch('SELF_DESTRUCT', nil) && ENV['SELF_DESTRUCT'] == ENV['LOCAL_DOMAIN']
+  self_destruct = SelfDestructHelper.self_destruct?
 
   navigation.items do |n|
     n.item :web, safe_join([fa_icon('chevron-left fw'), t('settings.back')]), root_path
diff --git a/lib/mastodon/cli/main.rb b/lib/mastodon/cli/main.rb
index 1594eadce81e6a..5ee84657aeb762 100644
--- a/lib/mastodon/cli/main.rb
+++ b/lib/mastodon/cli/main.rb
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ class Main < Base
     desc 'maintenance SUBCOMMAND ...ARGS', 'Various maintenance utilities'
     subcommand 'maintenance', Maintenance
 
-    option :dry_run, type: :boolean
     desc 'self-destruct', 'Erase the server from the federation'
     long_desc <<~LONG_DESC
       Erase the server from the federation by broadcasting account delete
@@ -92,55 +91,37 @@ def self_destruct
 
       prompt = TTY::Prompt.new
 
-      exit(1) unless prompt.ask('Type in the domain of the server to confirm:', required: true) == Rails.configuration.x.local_domain
-
-      unless dry_run?
-        prompt.warn('This operation WILL NOT be reversible. It can also take a long time.')
-        prompt.warn('While the data won\'t be erased locally, the server will be in a BROKEN STATE afterwards.')
-        prompt.warn('A running Sidekiq process is required. Do not shut it down until queues clear.')
-
-        exit(1) if prompt.no?('Are you sure you want to proceed?')
-      end
+      if SelfDestructHelper.self_destruct?
+        prompt.ok('Self-destruct mode is already enabled for this Mastodon server')
 
-      inboxes   = Account.inboxes
-      processed = 0
+        pending_accounts = Account.local.without_suspended.count + Account.local.suspended.joins(:deletion_request).count
+        sidekiq_stats = Sidekiq::Stats.new
 
-      Setting.registrations_mode = 'none' unless dry_run?
+        if pending_accounts.positive?
+          prompt.warn("#{pending_accounts} accounts are still pending deletion.")
+        elsif sidekiq_stats.enqueued.positive?
+          prompt.warn('Deletion notices are still being processed')
+        elsif sidekiq_stats.retry_size.positive?
+          prompt.warn('At least one delivery attempt for each deletion notice has been made, but some have failed and are scheduled for retry')
+        else
+          prompt.ok('Every deletion notice has been sent! You can safely delete all data and decomission your servers!')
+        end
 
-      if inboxes.empty?
-        Account.local.without_suspended.in_batches.update_all(suspended_at: Time.now.utc, suspension_origin: :local) unless dry_run?
-        prompt.ok('It seems like your server has not federated with anything')
-        prompt.ok('You can shut it down and delete it any time')
-        return
+        exit(0)
       end
 
-      prompt.warn('Do NOT interrupt this process...')
-
-      delete_account = lambda do |account|
-        payload = ActiveModelSerializers::SerializableResource.new(
-          account,
-          serializer: ActivityPub::DeleteActorSerializer,
-          adapter: ActivityPub::Adapter
-        ).as_json
-
-        json = Oj.dump(ActivityPub::LinkedDataSignature.new(payload).sign!(account))
-
-        unless dry_run?
-          ActivityPub::DeliveryWorker.push_bulk(inboxes, limit: 1_000) do |inbox_url|
-            [json, account.id, inbox_url]
-          end
-
-          account.suspend!(block_email: false)
-        end
+      exit(1) unless prompt.ask('Type in the domain of the server to confirm:', required: true) == Rails.configuration.x.local_domain
 
-        processed += 1
-      end
+      prompt.warn('This operation WILL NOT be reversible. It can also take a long time.')
+      prompt.warn('While the data won\'t be erased locally, the server will be in a BROKEN STATE afterwards.')
+      prompt.warn('A running Sidekiq process is required. Do not shut it down until queues clear.')
 
-      Account.local.without_suspended.find_each { |account| delete_account.call(account) }
-      Account.local.suspended.joins(:deletion_request).find_each { |account| delete_account.call(account) }
+      exit(1) if prompt.no?('Are you sure you want to proceed?')
 
-      prompt.ok("Queued #{inboxes.size * processed} items into Sidekiq for #{processed} accounts#{dry_run_mode_suffix}")
-      prompt.ok('Wait until Sidekiq processes all items, then you can shut everything down and delete the data')
+      self_destruct_value = Rails.application.message_verifier('self-destruct').generate(Rails.configuration.x.local_domain)
+      prompt.ok('To switch Mastodon to self-destruct mode, add the following line to your `.env.production` and restart all Mastodon processes:')
+      prompt.ok("  SELF_DESTRUCT=#{self_destruct_value}")
+      prompt.ok("\nYou can re-run this command to see the state of the self-destruct process.")
     rescue TTY::Reader::InputInterrupt
       exit(1)
     end