diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 93eefb8..885243f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,4 +15,9 @@ repos/*
 .vscode
 
 # sphinx / readthedocs
-doc/build/*
\ No newline at end of file
+doc/build/*
+
+# tests directories
+tests/data/output*
+tests/data/access*.yaml
+bindings/cpp/tests/output*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.cc b/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.cc
index a3408cb..10694c0 100644
--- a/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.cc
+++ b/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.cc
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ DataPipeline::DataPipeline(const string &config_file, const string &uri, const s
   api(py::module::import("data_pipeline_api.standard_api").attr("StandardAPI").attr("from_config")(
     config_file, uri, git_sha)) {}
 
+DataPipeline::~DataPipeline()
+{
+  api.attr("file_api").attr("close")();
+}
+
 double DataPipeline::read_estimate(string data_product, const string &component)
 {
   // TODO: can we assume all estimate are floats? Should we check it?
diff --git a/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.hh b/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.hh
index 7c165ec..141b238 100644
--- a/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.hh
+++ b/bindings/cpp/datapipeline.hh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class DataPipeline
 {
   public:
   DataPipeline(const string &config_file, const string &uri, const string &git_sha);
+  ~DataPipeline();
   double read_estimate(string data_product, const string &component);
   Distribution read_distribution(const string &data_product, const string &component);
   vector<double> read_sample(const string &data_product, const string &component);