is validated in the same transaction that rewrites the alias, and on
failure the alias keeps its current target.

The call returns once the new target is live on every reader, which takes
about a second; size client timeouts accordingly. Reads through the alias
that start after the response are served from the new namespace, so no
polling is needed. Repointing is safe to retry; `updated_at` advances on
every attempt.

For guidance and examples, see [Manage namespace aliases](/guides/manage-data-namespace-aliases-manage-aliases).

:::code-group
```bash curl
# To get the unique host for an index,
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
INDEX_HOST="INDEX_HOST"
ALIAS_NAME="dataset"

curl -X PATCH "https://$INDEX_HOST/namespace-aliases/$ALIAS_NAME" \
    -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
    -d '{
        "target_namespace": "dataset_v2"
    }'
```
:::

`PATCH /namespace-aliases/{alias_name}`

:::code-group
```json title="200"
{
  "name": "dataset",
  "target_namespace": "dataset_v1",
  "created_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

```json title="400"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json title="404"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json title="4XX"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json title="5XX"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```
:::

#### Authorizations

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Key` | `string` | - |  |

An API Key is required to call Pinecone APIs. Get yours from the [console](https://app.pinecone.io/).

#### Headers

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` | `string` | `2026-07` | Required date-based version header |

#### Path Parameters

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `alias_name` | `string` | - | The name of the alias. Must be 1-512 characters of printable ASCII, excluding space and / ? # % & = \ ; +. Required string length: 1 - 512 |

#### Body

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `target_namespace` | `string` | - | The namespace the alias resolves to after the repoint. Must be an existing, active namespace in the index; an alias cannot point to another alias. To point the alias at the default namespace, use __default__. Required string length: 1 - 512. Example: dataset_v2 |

#### Response

`200` — A successful response.

A description of a namespace alias and the namespace it resolves to.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `name` | `string` | - | The name of the alias. Immutable after creation. Example: dataset |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `target_namespace` | `string` | - | The namespace the alias resolves to. Changed only by repointing the alias. The default namespace is represented as __default__. Example: dataset_v1 |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `created_at` | `string` | - | The time the alias was created. Example: 2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `updated_at` | `string` | - | The time the alias was last repointed. Advances on every repoint, including a repoint to the alias's current target; equals created_at until the first repoint. Example: 2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z |

## Related pages

- [List namespace aliases](./database-data-plane-list-namespace-aliases.md)
- [Create a namespace alias](./database-data-plane-create-namespace-alias.md)
- [Describe a namespace alias](./database-data-plane-describe-namespace-alias.md)
- [Delete a namespace alias](./database-data-plane-delete-namespace-alias.md)

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