Delete records ↗

Summary: Delete records by ID or metadata filter from indexes

Original Documentation

Documentation Index#
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pinecone.io/llms.txt Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Delete records by ID or metadata filter from indexes

This page shows you how to delete records from an index 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.

To remove records from the default namespace, specify "__default__" as the namespace in your request.

# 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')

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']);

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)
    }
}

using Pinecone;

var pinecone = new PineconeClient("YOUR_API_KEY");

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

var deleteResponse = await index.DeleteAsync(new DeleteRequest {
    Ids = new List<string> { "id-1", "id-2" },
    Namespace = "example-namespace",
});

# 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: 2025-10" \
  -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:

# 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" 
)

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" },
});

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)
    }
}

using Pinecone;

var pinecone = new PineconeClient("YOUR_API_KEY");

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

var deleteResponse = await index.DeleteAsync(new DeleteRequest {
    Namespace = "example-namespace",
    Filter = new Metadata
    {
        ["genre"] =
            new Metadata
            {
                ["$eq"] = "documentary"
            }
    }
});

# 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: $PINECONE_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2025-10" \
  -d '{
    "filter": {"genre": {"$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__".

# 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')

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();

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)
    }
}

using Pinecone;

var pinecone = new PineconeClient("YOUR_API_KEY");

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

var deleteResponse = await index.DeleteAsync(new DeleteRequest {
    DeleteAll = true,
    Namespace = "example-namespace",
});

# 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: 2025-10" \
  -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.

Delete limits#

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.

Link last verified June 7, 2026. View original ↗

Source: Pinecone Docs

Link last verified: 2026-02-26