:::code-group
```python Python theme={null}
# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone, PodSpec

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

pc.delete_index(name="docs-example")
```

```javascript JavaScript theme={null}
// npm install @pinecone-database/pinecone
import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

const pc = new Pinecone({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY'
});

await pc.deleteIndex('docs-example');
```

```java Java theme={null}
import io.pinecone.clients.Pinecone;

public class DeleteIndexExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Pinecone pc = new Pinecone.Builder("YOUR_API_KEY").build();
        pc.deleteIndex("docs-example");
    }
}
```

```go Go theme={null}
package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v3/pinecone"
)

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    pc, err := pinecone.NewClient(pinecone.NewClientParams{
        ApiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create Client: %v", err)
    }

    indexName := "docs-example"

    err = pc.DeleteIndex(ctx, indexName)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete index: %v", err)
    } else {
        fmt.Println("Index \"%v\" deleted successfully", indexName)
    }
}
```

```csharp C# theme={null}
using Pinecone;

var pinecone = new PineconeClient("YOUR_API_KEY");

await pinecone.DeleteIndexAsync("docs-example");
```

```shell curl theme={null}
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

curl -i -X DELETE "https://api.pinecone.io/indexes/docs-example" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2025-01"
```
:::

`DELETE /indexes/{index_name}`

:::code-group
```json title="401"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNAUTHENTICATED",
    "message": "Invalid API key."
  },
  "status": 401
}
```

```json title="403"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "FORBIDDEN",
    "message": "Deletion protection is enabled for this index. Disable deletion protection before retrying."
  },
  "status": 403
}
```

```json title="404"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "Index example-index not found."
  },
  "status": 404
}
```

```json title="412"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "FAILED_PRECONDITION",
    "message": "Unable to delete an index. There are pending collections for this index: ['test-collection']"
  },
  "status": 412
}
```

```json title="500"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNKNOWN",
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "status": 500
}
```
:::

#### 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/).

#### Path Parameters

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `index_name` | `string` | - | The name of the index to delete. |

#### Response

`202` — The request to delete the index has been accepted.

## Related pages

- [List indexes](./database-2026-07-control-plane-list-indexes.md)
- [Create an index](./database-2026-07-control-plane-create-index.md)
- [Create an index with integrated embedding](./database-2026-07-control-plane-create-for-model.md)
- [Describe an index](./database-2026-07-control-plane-describe-index.md)
- [Delete an index](./database-2026-07-control-plane-delete-index.md)
- [Configure an index](./database-2026-07-control-plane-configure-index.md)
- [Get index stats](./database-2026-07-data-plane-describeindexstats.md)
- [List indexes](./database-2026-04-control-plane-list-indexes.md)
- [Create an index](./database-2026-04-control-plane-create-index.md)
- [Create an index with integrated embedding](./database-2026-04-control-plane-create-for-model.md)

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