diff --git a/NiFiDeploy.groovy b/NiFiDeploy.groovy
index 8372fb8..d39cc2c 100644
--- a/NiFiDeploy.groovy
+++ b/NiFiDeploy.groovy
@@ -67,6 +67,94 @@ if (opts.debug) {
 
 // implementation methods below
 
+def handleGracefullShutdown() {
+  if (!conf.nifi.gracefullShutdown){
+    return
+  }
+
+  println "Attempting to gracefully shut down the pipeline"
+
+  // get the processGroups that have 0 incoming connections
+  // and add to ArrayList
+  def checkProcessGroups = ['root']
+  processGroups.each { pcGroup ->
+    if (pcGroup.inputPortCount == 0){
+      checkProcessGroups.add(pcGroup.id)
+    }
+  }
+
+  // get all processors in the found processGroups and add them to hashmap
+  // processorConnectionMap. This will be used to count the number of
+  // destinations
+  // the processorPgMap hashmap will be used to lookup processorIds with
+  // processGroupIds
+  def processorConnectionMap = [:]
+  def processorPgMap = [:]
+  checkProcessGroups.each { pcGroupId ->
+    def resp = nifi.get(
+      path : "controller/process-groups/$pcGroupId/processors"
+    )
+    assert resp.status == 200
+    processors = resp.data.processors
+  }
+  processors.each { processor ->
+    processorConnectionMap.put(processor.id,0)
+    processorPgMap.put(processor.id, processor.parentGroupId)
+  }
+
+  // get all connections in the found processGroups
+  def connections = ""
+  checkProcessGroups.each { pcGroupId ->
+    def resp = nifi.get(
+      path : "controller/process-groups/$pcGroupId/connections"
+    )
+    assert resp.status == 200
+    connections = resp.data.connections
+  }
+
+  // count destinations per processor
+  connections.each { connection ->
+    if (processorConnectionMap.containsKey(connection.destination.id)){
+      processorConnectionMap[connection.destination.id] = processorConnectionMap[connection.destination.id] + 1
+    }
+  }
+
+  // shut down each processor that is not a destination (destination count == 0)
+  processorConnectionMap.each { processor ->
+    currentProcessGroup = processorPgMap[processor.key]
+    if (processor.value == 0){
+      println "Stopping processor $processor.key in processGroup $currentProcessGroup"
+      stopProcessor(currentProcessGroup, processor.key)
+    }
+  }
+
+  int maxWait = 1000 * 300 // up to 5 minutes
+  long start = System.currentTimeMillis()
+  // wait till all queues are empty or maxWait is reached
+  while ((System.currentTimeMillis() < (start + maxWait)) && (getNumberOfQueuedFiles() > 0)){
+    println "Number of queued files: $numberOfQueuedFiles"
+    sleep(5000)
+  }
+  if (getNumberOfQueuedFiles() == 0){
+    println "All queues are empty"
+  }
+  else {
+    println "[ERROR] Max wait time reached waiting for queues to flush. Exiting."
+    System.exit(-1)
+  }
+}
+
+def getNumberOfQueuedFiles() {
+  def resp = nifi.get(
+    path : "controller/status"
+  )
+  assert resp.status == 200
+  status = resp.data
+  queued = status.controllerStatus.queued.split(' ')
+  numberOfQueuedFiles = queued[0].toInteger()
+  return numberOfQueuedFiles
+}
+
 def handleUndeploy() {
   if (!conf.nifi.undeploy) {
     return
@@ -587,6 +675,8 @@ currentRevision = -1 // used for optimistic concurrency throughout the REST API
 processGroups = null
 loadProcessGroups()
 
+handleGracefullShutdown()
+
 handleUndeploy()
 
 templateId = null // will be assigned on import into NiFi