diff --git a/src/api_server/src/lib.rs b/src/api_server/src/lib.rs
index 7959203e8ee..a9d6ce3ca82 100644
--- a/src/api_server/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/api_server/src/lib.rs
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ pub struct ApiServer {
     /// FD on which we notify the VMM that we have sent at least one
     /// `VmmRequest`.
     to_vmm_fd: EventFd,
-    /// If this flag is set, the API thread will go down.
-    shutdown_flag: bool,
 }
 
 impl ApiServer {
@@ -55,7 +53,6 @@ impl ApiServer {
             api_request_sender,
             vmm_response_receiver,
             to_vmm_fd,
-            shutdown_flag: false,
         }
     }
 
@@ -121,14 +118,6 @@ impl ApiServer {
                 let delta_us = utils::time::get_time_us(utils::time::ClockType::Monotonic)
                     - request_processing_start_us;
                 debug!("Total previous API call duration: {} us.", delta_us);
-
-                if self.shutdown_flag {
-                    server.flush_outgoing_writes();
-                    debug!(
-                        "/shutdown-internal request received, API server thread now ending itself"
-                    );
-                    return;
-                }
             }
         }
     }
@@ -145,10 +134,6 @@ impl ApiServer {
                     RequestAction::Sync(vmm_action) => {
                         self.serve_vmm_action_request(vmm_action, request_processing_start_us)
                     }
-                    RequestAction::ShutdownInternal => {
-                        self.shutdown_flag = true;
-                        Response::new(Version::Http11, StatusCode::NoContent)
-                    }
                 };
                 if let Some(message) = parsing_info.take_deprecation_message() {
                     warn!("{}", message);
@@ -483,4 +468,38 @@ mod tests {
                               unanswered requests will be dropped.\" }";
         assert_eq!(&buf[..], &error_message[..]);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_kill_switch() {
+        let mut tmp_socket = TempFile::new().unwrap();
+        tmp_socket.remove().unwrap();
+        let path_to_socket = tmp_socket.as_path().to_str().unwrap().to_owned();
+
+        let to_vmm_fd = EventFd::new(libc::EFD_NONBLOCK).unwrap();
+        let (api_request_sender, _from_api) = channel();
+        let (_to_api, vmm_response_receiver) = channel();
+        let seccomp_filters = get_empty_filters();
+
+        let api_kill_switch = EventFd::new(libc::EFD_NONBLOCK).unwrap();
+        let kill_switch = api_kill_switch.try_clone().unwrap();
+
+        let mut server = HttpServer::new(PathBuf::from(path_to_socket)).unwrap();
+        server.add_kill_switch(kill_switch).unwrap();
+
+        let api_thread = thread::Builder::new()
+            .name("fc_api_test".to_owned())
+            .spawn(move || {
+                ApiServer::new(api_request_sender, vmm_response_receiver, to_vmm_fd).run(
+                    server,
+                    ProcessTimeReporter::new(Some(1), Some(1), Some(1)),
+                    seccomp_filters.get("api").unwrap(),
+                    vmm::HTTP_MAX_PAYLOAD_SIZE,
+                )
+            })
+            .unwrap();
+        // Signal the API thread it should shut down.
+        api_kill_switch.write(1).unwrap();
+        // Verify API thread was brought down.
+        api_thread.join().unwrap();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/api_server/src/parsed_request.rs b/src/api_server/src/parsed_request.rs
index 12eacb24bc0..4dddaf87b86 100644
--- a/src/api_server/src/parsed_request.rs
+++ b/src/api_server/src/parsed_request.rs
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ use crate::ApiServer;
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub(crate) enum RequestAction {
     Sync(Box<VmmAction>),
-    ShutdownInternal, // !!! not an API, used by shutdown to thread::join the API thread
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Default, PartialEq)]
@@ -97,9 +96,6 @@ impl TryFrom<&Request> for ParsedRequest {
             (Method::Put, "network-interfaces", Some(body)) => {
                 parse_put_net(body, path_tokens.next())
             }
-            (Method::Put, "shutdown-internal", None) => {
-                Ok(ParsedRequest::new(RequestAction::ShutdownInternal))
-            }
             (Method::Put, "snapshot", Some(body)) => parse_put_snapshot(body, path_tokens.next()),
             (Method::Put, "vsock", Some(body)) => parse_put_vsock(body),
             (Method::Put, "entropy", Some(body)) => parse_put_entropy(body),
@@ -350,7 +346,6 @@ pub mod tests {
                 (RequestAction::Sync(ref sync_req), RequestAction::Sync(ref other_sync_req)) => {
                     sync_req == other_sync_req
                 }
-                _ => false,
             }
         }
     }
@@ -358,7 +353,6 @@ pub mod tests {
     pub(crate) fn vmm_action_from_request(req: ParsedRequest) -> VmmAction {
         match req.action {
             RequestAction::Sync(vmm_action) => *vmm_action,
-            _ => panic!("Invalid request"),
         }
     }
 
@@ -371,7 +365,6 @@ pub mod tests {
                 assert_eq!(req_msg, msg);
                 *vmm_action
             }
-            _ => panic!("Invalid request"),
         }
     }
 
@@ -883,21 +876,6 @@ pub mod tests {
         assert!(ParsedRequest::try_from(&req).is_ok());
     }
 
-    #[test]
-    fn test_try_from_put_shutdown() {
-        let (mut sender, receiver) = UnixStream::pair().unwrap();
-        let mut connection = HttpConnection::new(receiver);
-        sender
-            .write_all(http_request("PUT", "/shutdown-internal", None).as_bytes())
-            .unwrap();
-        assert!(connection.try_read().is_ok());
-        let req = connection.pop_parsed_request().unwrap();
-        match ParsedRequest::try_from(&req).unwrap().into_parts() {
-            (RequestAction::ShutdownInternal, _) => (),
-            _ => panic!("wrong parsed request"),
-        };
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn test_try_from_patch_vm() {
         let (mut sender, receiver) = UnixStream::pair().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/firecracker/src/api_server_adapter.rs b/src/firecracker/src/api_server_adapter.rs
index 3e1e1ef5e45..73e504503cd 100644
--- a/src/firecracker/src/api_server_adapter.rs
+++ b/src/firecracker/src/api_server_adapter.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright 2019 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-use std::io::Write;
 use std::os::unix::io::AsRawFd;
-use std::os::unix::net::UnixStream;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::sync::mpsc::{channel, Receiver, Sender, TryRecvError};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
@@ -241,19 +239,7 @@ pub(crate) fn run_with_api(
         )
     });
 
-    // We want to tell the API thread to shut down for a clean exit. But this is after
-    // the Vmm.stop() has been called, so it's a moment of internal finalization (as
-    // opposed to be something the client might call to shut the Vm down).  Since it's
-    // an internal signal implementing it with an HTTP request is probably not the ideal
-    // way to do it...but having another way would involve multiplexing micro-http server
-    // with some other communication mechanism, or enhancing micro-http with exit
-    // conditions.
-
-    // We also need to make sure the socket path is ready.
-    let mut sock = UnixStream::connect(bind_path).unwrap();
-    sock.write_all(b"PUT /shutdown-internal HTTP/1.1\r\n\r\n")
-        .unwrap();
-
+    api_kill_switch.write(1).unwrap();
     // This call to thread::join() should block until the API thread has processed the
     // shutdown-internal and returns from its function.
     api_thread.join().expect("Api thread should join");