diff --git a/migration_prompt.go b/migration_prompt.go
index a41b12f8..ee62df35 100644
--- a/migration_prompt.go
+++ b/migration_prompt.go
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ import (
 
 const autoMigrateKVDBEnvVar = "LIT_AUTO_MIGRATE_TO_SQL"
 
+var errKVDBToSQLMigrationDeclined = errors.New(
+	"manual confirmation declined",
+)
+
 var kvdbToSQLMigrationPromptLines = []string{
 	"",
 	"CAUTION: litd is about to migrate your existing data to a new SQL " +
@@ -175,8 +179,8 @@ func promptForKVDBToSQLMigrationConfirmation(input io.Reader,
 	}
 
 	if strings.TrimSpace(answer) != "yes" {
-		return errors.New("manual confirmation declined; refusing to " +
-			"continue kvdb-to-SQL migration")
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w; refusing to continue kvdb-to-SQL "+
+			"migration", errKVDBToSQLMigrationDeclined)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/migration_prompt_test.go b/migration_prompt_test.go
index 634ad2cf..cb615f24 100644
--- a/migration_prompt_test.go
+++ b/migration_prompt_test.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func TestConfirmPendingKVDBToSQLMigration(t *testing.T) {
 				createActiveAccountsKVDB(t, dbDir)
 			},
 			input:     "no\n",
-			expectErr: "manual confirmation declined",
+			expectErr: errKVDBToSQLMigrationDeclined.Error(),
 		},
 		{
 			name: "skips prompt on auto migration config",
diff --git a/terminal.go b/terminal.go
index 9fda836b..0d8e3e0c 100644
--- a/terminal.go
+++ b/terminal.go
@@ -405,6 +405,19 @@ func (g *LightningTerminal) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		g.statusMgr.SetErrored(
 			subservers.LIT, "could not start Lit: %v", startErr,
 		)
+
+		// If the user has declined the migration prompt, we shut down
+		// Lit fully, and do not keep the status server up and running.
+		// The motivation for this is that the error occurs prior to
+		// Lit being able to accept a `litcli stop` call. Users running
+		// in an env that can't easily kill the daemon therefore need to
+		// be able to shut it down by just declining the migration.
+		// Note that no sub-servers, including `lnd`, have been
+		// started/connected to when the migration prompt is shown. We
+		// can therefore safely shut Lit down without affecting them.
+		if errors.Is(startErr, errKVDBToSQLMigrationDeclined) {
+			shutdownInterceptor.RequestShutdown()
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Now block until we receive an error or the main shutdown