Delete data

Delete Pinecone documents or records from a namespace by ID or metadata filter, or delete every document or record the namespace holds.

This page shows you how to delete the data in an index namespace. The kind of index determines which operation you use. An index with a document schema uses the Documents API, and a vector index uses the Vectors API. If you aren't sure which kind of index you have, see Adopt the Documents API.

Delete documents: Delete documents by ID, by metadata filter, or delete every document in the namespace.
Delete records: The same three options for a vector index.

Delete documents

In an index with a document schema, delete documents by ID, by metadata filter, or delete the whole namespace's contents. A request specifies exactly one of ids, filter, or delete_all, and can name up to 1,000 IDs.

Delete documents by ID

To delete specific documents, pass their IDs:

Python

# pip install --upgrade pinecone
from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index,
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
index = pc.Index(host="INDEX_HOST")

index.documents.delete(namespace="articles", ids=["doc-1", "doc-2"])

curl

PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
INDEX_HOST="INDEX_HOST"

curl "https://$INDEX_HOST/namespaces/articles/documents/delete" \
    -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
    -d '{
            "ids": ["doc-1", "doc-2"]
        }'

Delete documents by metadata

To delete every document matching a metadata filter expression, pass a filter. The response reports how many documents matched:

Python

# Connect to an index as shown above.
response = index.documents.delete(
    namespace="articles",
    filter={"category": {"$eq": "news"}},
)
print(response.matched_records)

curl

curl "https://$INDEX_HOST/namespaces/articles/documents/delete" \
    -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
    -d '{
            "filter": { "category": { "$eq": "news" } }
        }'

JSON

{
    "matched_records": 6
}

Delete all documents in a namespace

To empty a namespace without deleting the namespace itself, pass delete_all:

Python

# Connect to an index as shown above.
index.documents.delete(namespace="articles", delete_all=True)

curl

curl "https://$INDEX_HOST/namespaces/articles/documents/delete" \
    -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
    -d '{
            "delete_all": true
        }'

A delete by ID and a delete_all return an empty response body. Only a filtered delete reports matched_records.

For the full request and response schema, see Delete documents.

Delete records

In a vector index, delete records by ID, by metadata filter, or delete every record in the namespace.

Delete records by ID

Since Pinecone records can always be efficiently accessed using their ID, deleting by ID is the most efficient way to remove specific records from a namespace.

Python

# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index, 
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
index = pc.Index(host="INDEX_HOST")

index.delete(ids=["id-1", "id-2"], namespace='example-namespace')

JavaScript

import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

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

// To get the unique host for an index, 
// see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
const index = pc.index("INDEX_NAME", "INDEX_HOST")

const ns = index.namespace('example-namespace')
// Delete one record by ID.
await ns.deleteOne('id-1');
// Delete more than one record by ID.
await ns.deleteMany(['id-2', 'id-3']);

Java

import io.pinecone.clients.Index;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConfig;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConnection;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class DeleteExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PineconeConfig config = new PineconeConfig("YOUR_API_KEY");
        // To get the unique host for an index, 
        // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
        config.setHost("INDEX_HOST");
        PineconeConnection connection = new PineconeConnection(config);
        Index index = new Index(connection, "INDEX_NAME");
        List<String> ids = Arrays.asList("id-1", "id-2");
        index.deleteByIds(ids, "example-namespace");
    }
}

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v4/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)
    }

    // To get the unique host for an index, 
    // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
    idxConnection, err := pc.Index(pinecone.NewIndexConnParams{Host: "INDEX_HOST", Namespace: "example-namespace"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create IndexConnection for Host: %v", err)
  	}

    id1 := "id-1"
    id2 := "id-2"

    err = idxConnection.DeleteVectorsById(ctx, []string{id1, id2})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete vector with ID %v: %v", id, err)
    }
}

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"

curl "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/delete" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "ids": [
      "id-1", 
      "id-2"
    ],
    "namespace": "example-namespace"
  }
'

Delete records by metadata

To delete records from a namespace based on their metadata values, pass a metadata filter expression to the delete operation. This deletes all records in the namespace that match the filter expression.

For example, the following code deletes all records with a genre field set to documentary from namespace example-namespace:

Python

# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index, 
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
index = pc.Index(host="INDEX_HOST")

index.delete(
    filter={
        "genre": {"$eq": "documentary"}
    },
    namespace="example-namespace" 
)

JavaScript

import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

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

// To get the unique host for an index, 
// see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
const index = pc.index("INDEX_NAME", "INDEX_HOST")

const ns = index.namespace('example-namespace')

await ns.deleteMany({
  genre: { $eq: "documentary" },
});

Java

import com.google.protobuf.Struct;
import com.google.protobuf.Value;
import io.pinecone.clients.Index;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConfig;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConnection;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class DeleteExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PineconeConfig config = new PineconeConfig("YOUR_API_KEY");
        // To get the unique host for an index, 
        // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
        config.setHost("INDEX_HOST");
        PineconeConnection connection = new PineconeConnection(config);
        Index index = new Index(connection, "INDEX_NAME");
        Struct filter = Struct.newBuilder()
                .putFields("genre", Value.newBuilder()
                        .setStructValue(Struct.newBuilder()
                                .putFields("$eq", Value.newBuilder()
                                        .setStringValue("documentary")
                                        .build()))
                        .build())
                .build();
        index.deleteByFilter(filter, "example-namespace");

    }
}

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v4/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)
    }

    // To get the unique host for an index, 
    // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
    idxConnection, err := pc.Index(pinecone.NewIndexConnParams{Host: "INDEX_HOST", Namespace: "example-namespace"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create IndexConnection for Host: %v", err)
  	}

    metadataFilter := map[string]interface{}{
		"genre": map[string]interface{}{
			"$eq": "documentary",
		},
    }

    filter, err := structpb.NewStruct(metadataFilter)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create metadata filter: %v", err)
    }

    err = idxConnection.DeleteVectorsByFilter(ctx, filter)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete vector(s) with filter %+v: %v", filter, err)
    }
}

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"

curl -i "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/delete" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "filter": {"genre": {"$eq": "documentary"}},
    "namespace": "example-namespace"
  }'

Delete all records in a namespace

To delete all of the records in a namespace but not the namespace itself, provide a namespace parameter and specify the appropriate deleteAll parameter for your SDK. To target the default namespace, set namespace to "__default__".

Python

# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index, 
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
index = pc.Index(host="INDEX_HOST")

index.delete(delete_all=True, namespace='example-namespace')

JavaScript

import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

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

// To get the unique host for an index, 
// see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
const index = pc.index("INDEX_NAME", "INDEX_HOST")

await index.namespace('example-namespace').deleteAll();

Java

import io.pinecone.clients.Index;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConfig;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConnection;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class DeleteExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PineconeConfig config = new PineconeConfig("YOUR_API_KEY");
        // To get the unique host for an index, 
        // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
        config.setHost("INDEX_HOST");
        PineconeConnection connection = new PineconeConnection(config);
        Index index = new Index(connection, "INDEX_NAME");
        index.deleteAll("example-namespace");
    }
}

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v4/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)
    }

    // To get the unique host for an index, 
    // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
    idxConnection, err := pc.Index(pinecone.NewIndexConnParams{Host: "INDEX_HOST", Namespace: "example-namespace"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create IndexConnection for Host: %v", err)
  	}

    err = idxConnection.DeleteAllVectorsInNamespace(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete all vectors in namespace %v: %v", namespace, err)
    }
}

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"

curl "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/delete" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "deleteAll": true,
    "namespace": "example-namespace"
  }
'

Delete an entire namespace

To delete an entire namespace and all of its records, see Delete a namespace.

Delete an entire index

To remove all records from an index, delete the index and recreate it.

Vector delete limits

These limits apply to the Vectors API. For an index with a document schema, see Delete documents.

Delete by ID limits

Metric	Limit
Max IDs per request	1000 IDs
Max request rate	5000 records per second per index or namespace

Delete by metadata limits

Metric	Limit
Max request rate	5 requests per second per namespace 500 requests per second per index

Data freshness

Pinecone is eventually consistent, so there can be a slight delay before new or changed records are visible to queries. You can view index stats to check data freshness.