# Delete a file

This operation is asynchronous. The response includes an operation ID that can be used to poll for completion via the describe operation endpoint.

```bash curl theme={null}
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
ASSISTANT_NAME="example-assistant"
FILE_ID="070513b3-022f-4966-b583-a9b12e0290ff"

curl -X DELETE "https://prod-1-data.ke.pinecone.io/assistant/files/$ASSISTANT_NAME/$FILE_ID" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-04"
```

```json curl theme={null}
{
  "id": "op-7777-ffff-0000",
  "operation_type": "delete_file",
  "file_id": "my-file-id-123",
  "status": "Processing",
  "created_on": "2025-10-01T12:30:00Z",
  "percent_complete": 0
}
```

:::callout{intent="note"}
This example shows a `Processing` operation. The `error_message` field is present only when the operation status is `Failed`.
:::

`DELETE /files/{assistant_name}/{assistant_file_id}`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request DELETE \
  --url https://{assistant_host}/files/{assistant_name}/{assistant_file_id} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'
```

```json title="202"
{
  "id": "op-1234-abcd-5678",
  "operation_type": "upload_file",
  "file_id": "my-file-id-123",
  "status": "Processing",
  "created_on": "2025-10-01T12:30:00.000Z",
  "completed_on": "2025-10-01T12:35:00.000Z",
  "percent_complete": 42,
  "error_message": "File processing failed: unsupported file format.",
  "ingestion_units": 50
}
```
:::

## Authorizations

- `Authorization` (header, string, required) — Bearer authentication header of the form `Bearer <token>`.

## Path Parameters

- `assistant_name` (path, string, required) — The name of the assistant that contains the file.
- `assistant_file_id` (path, string, required) — The identifier of the file to be deleted.

## Headers

- `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` (header, string, required) — Required date-based version header

## Response

- `202` — The request to delete the file has been accepted. The deletion will be processed asynchronously.
- `204` — The file was deleted immediately. This occurs when deleting a file that previously failed processing.
- `401` — Unauthorized. Possible causes: Invalid API key.
- `404` — File not found.
- `500` — Internal server error.

## Related pages

- [Account management](./account-management-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-2-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-index.md)
- [APIs](./apis-index.md)
- [Architecture](./architecture-index.md)
- [Assistants](./assistants-index.md)
- [Bring Your Own Cloud](./bring-your-own-cloud-index.md)
- [Build an assistant](./build-an-assistant-index.md)
- [Build an integration](./build-an-integration-index.md)
- [Changelog](./changelog-index.md)

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