diff --git a/tooling/noir_js/src/program.ts b/tooling/noir_js/src/program.ts
index 7d11166c0a7..877fd400688 100644
--- a/tooling/noir_js/src/program.ts
+++ b/tooling/noir_js/src/program.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ export class Noir {
     }
   }
 
+  async destroy(): Promise<void> {
+    await this.backend?.destroy();
+  }
+
   private getBackend(): Backend {
     if (this.backend === undefined) throw new Error('Operation requires a backend but none was provided');
     return this.backend;
diff --git a/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
index a2f8240f6f7..e51e35585c0 100644
--- a/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
+++ b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /* eslint-disable  @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any */
 import { acirToUint8Array } from './serialize.js';
 import { Backend, CompiledCircuit, ProofData } from '@noir-lang/types';
+import { BackendOptions } from './types.js';
 
 // This is the number of bytes in a UltraPlonk proof
 // minus the public inputs.
@@ -14,11 +15,12 @@ export class BarretenbergBackend implements Backend {
   private api: any;
   private acirComposer: any;
   private acirUncompressedBytecode: Uint8Array;
-  private numberOfThreads = 1;
 
-  constructor(acirCircuit: CompiledCircuit, numberOfThreads = 1) {
+  constructor(
+    acirCircuit: CompiledCircuit,
+    private options: BackendOptions = { threads: 1 },
+  ) {
     const acirBytecodeBase64 = acirCircuit.bytecode;
-    this.numberOfThreads = numberOfThreads;
     this.acirUncompressedBytecode = acirToUint8Array(acirBytecodeBase64);
   }
 
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ export class BarretenbergBackend implements Backend {
       // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
       //@ts-ignore
       const { Barretenberg, RawBuffer, Crs } = await import('@aztec/bb.js');
-      const api = await Barretenberg.new(this.numberOfThreads);
+      const api = await Barretenberg.new(this.options.threads);
 
       const [_exact, _total, subgroupSize] = await api.acirGetCircuitSizes(this.acirUncompressedBytecode);
       const crs = await Crs.new(subgroupSize + 1);
diff --git a/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b88a942d986
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export type BackendOptions = {
+  threads: number;
+};
diff --git a/tooling/noir_js_types/src/types.ts b/tooling/noir_js_types/src/types.ts
index 6285972d1e9..f534ec9a920 100644
--- a/tooling/noir_js_types/src/types.ts
+++ b/tooling/noir_js_types/src/types.ts
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ export interface Backend {
   generateIntermediateProof(decompressedWitness: Uint8Array): Promise<ProofData>;
 
   verifyFinalProof(proofData: ProofData): Promise<boolean>;
-
   verifyIntermediateProof(proofData: ProofData): Promise<boolean>;
+  destroy(): Promise<void>;
 }
 
 export type ProofData = {