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# Delete Collection

DELETE https://api.airweave.ai/collections/{readable_id}

Permanently delete a collection and all associated data.

This operation:
- Removes all synced data from the vector database
- Deletes all source connections within the collection
- Cancels any scheduled sync jobs
- Cleans up all related resources

**Warning**: This action cannot be undone. All data will be permanently deleted.

Reference: https://docs.airweave.ai/api-reference/collections/delete-collections-readable-id-delete

## Authentication

- `x-api-key` header (required) — API Key authentication via header

## Servers

- `https://api.airweave.ai` (Production, default)
- `http://localhost:8001` (Local)

## Request

### Path parameters

- `readable_id` (string, required) — The unique readable identifier of the collection to delete

## Response

### 200

Deleted collection

- `name` (string, required) — Human-readable display name for the collection.
- `readable_id` (string, required) — URL-safe unique identifier used in API endpoints. This becomes non-optional once the collection is created.
- `id` (string, required) — Unique system identifier for the collection. This UUID is generated automatically and used for internal references.
- `created_at` (string, required) — Timestamp when the collection was created (ISO 8601 format).
- `modified_at` (string, required) — Timestamp when the collection was last modified (ISO 8601 format).
- `organization_id` (string, required) — Identifier of the organization that owns this collection. Collections are isolated per organization.
- `vector_size` (integer, required) — Vector dimensions used by this collection (derived from deployment metadata).
- `embedding_model_name` (string, required) — Name of the embedding model used for this collection (derived from deployment metadata).
- `sync_config` (SyncConfig, optional, nullable) — Default sync configuration for all syncs in this collection. Overridable at sync and job level.
- `created_by_email` (string, optional, nullable) — Email address of the user who created this collection.
- `modified_by_email` (string, optional, nullable) — Email address of the user who last modified this collection.
- `status` (enum, optional) — Current operational status of the collection:• **NEEDS\_SOURCE**: Collection has no authenticated connections, or connections exist but haven't synced yet• **ACTIVE**: At least one connection has completed a sync or is currently syncing• **ERROR**: All connections have failed their last sync
  - Allowed values: `ACTIVE`, `NEEDS SOURCE`, `ERROR`
- `source_connection_summaries` (list of SourceConnectionSummary, optional) — Lightweight list of source connections attached to this collection. Contains only short_name and name, suitable for rendering icons in list views.

## Errors

### 404 Not Found Error

Collection Not Found

- `detail` (string, required) — Error message describing what was not found

### 422 Unprocessable Entity Error

Validation Error

- `detail` (list of ValidationError, optional)

### 429 Too Many Requests Error

Rate Limit Exceeded

- `detail` (string, required) — Error message explaining the rate limit

## Types

### SyncConfig

Sync configuration with automatic env var loading. Env vars use double underscore as delimiter: SYNC_CONFIG__HANDLERS__ENABLE_VECTOR_HANDLERS=false

- `destinations` (DestinationConfig, optional) — Controls where entities are written.
- `handlers` (HandlerConfig, optional) — Controls which handlers run during sync.
- `cursor` (CursorConfig, optional) — Controls incremental sync cursor behavior.
- `behavior` (BehaviorConfig, optional) — Miscellaneous execution behavior flags.

### SourceConnectionSummary

Lightweight summary of a source connection for collection list display.

- `short_name` (string, required)
- `name` (string, required)

### ValidationError

- `loc` (list of ValidationErrorLocItems, required)
- `msg` (string, required)
- `type` (string, required)

### DestinationConfig

Controls where entities are written.

- `skip_vespa` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Skip writing to native Vespa
- `target_destinations` (list of string, optional, nullable) — If set, ONLY write to these destination UUIDs
- `exclude_destinations` (list of string, optional, nullable) — Skip these destination UUIDs

### HandlerConfig

Controls which handlers run during sync.

- `enable_vector_handlers` (boolean, optional, default: true) — Enable VectorDBHandler
- `enable_raw_data_handler` (boolean, optional, default: true) — Enable RawDataHandler (ARF)
- `enable_postgres_handler` (boolean, optional, default: true) — Enable EntityPostgresHandler

### CursorConfig

Controls incremental sync cursor behavior.

- `skip_load` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Don't load cursor (fetch all entities)
- `skip_updates` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Don't persist cursor progress

### BehaviorConfig

Miscellaneous execution behavior flags.

- `skip_hash_comparison` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Force INSERT for all entities
- `replay_from_arf` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Replay from ARF storage instead of calling source
- `skip_guardrails` (boolean, optional, default: false) — Skip usage guardrails (entity count checks)

### ValidationErrorLocItems

## Examples

**Response**

```json
{
  "name": "Finance Data",
  "readable_id": "finance-data-ab123",
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "modified_at": "2024-01-15T14:22:15Z",
  "organization_id": "org12345-6789-abcd-ef01-234567890abc",
  "vector_size": 3072,
  "embedding_model_name": "text-embedding-3-large",
  "created_by_email": "admin@company.com",
  "modified_by_email": "finance@company.com",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "source_connection_summaries": [
    {
      "short_name": "slack",
      "name": "Slack"
    },
    {
      "short_name": "github",
      "name": "GitHub"
    }
  ]
}
```

**SDK Code**

```python
import requests

url = "https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m"

headers = {"x-api-key": "<apiKey>"}

response = requests.delete(url, headers=headers)

print(response.json())
```

```typescript
import { AirweaveSDKClient } from "@airweave/sdk";

const client = new AirweaveSDKClient({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" });
await client.collections.delete("customer-support-tickets-x7k9m");

```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("DELETE", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("x-api-key", "<apiKey>")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```ruby
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Delete.new(url)
request["x-api-key"] = '<apiKey>'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```

```java
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.delete("https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m")
  .header("x-api-key", "<apiKey>")
  .asString();
```

```php
<?php
require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('DELETE', 'https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m', [
  'headers' => [
    'x-api-key' => '<apiKey>',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();
```

```csharp
using RestSharp;

var client = new RestClient("https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.DELETE);
request.AddHeader("x-api-key", "<apiKey>");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
```

```swift
import Foundation

let headers = ["x-api-key": "<apiKey>"]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://api.airweave.ai/collections/customer-support-tickets-x7k9m")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "DELETE"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
```