Delete an index

# pip install --upgrade pinecone
import os
from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key=os.environ["PINECONE_API_KEY"])

pc.indexes.delete(name="docs-example")

// npm install @pinecone-database/pinecone
import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone';

// Reads PINECONE_API_KEY from the environment
const pc = new Pinecone();

await pc.indexes.delete('docs-example');

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "os"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v7/pinecone"
)

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

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

    err = pc.DeleteIndex(ctx, "docs-example")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete index: %v", err)
    }
    fmt.Println("Deleted index docs-example")
}

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: 2026-07"

Invalid API key

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

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

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

{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNKNOWN",
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "status": 500
}

DELETE

indexes

{index_name}

# pip install --upgrade pinecone
import os
from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key=os.environ["PINECONE_API_KEY"])

pc.indexes.delete(name="docs-example")

// npm install @pinecone-database/pinecone
import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone';

// Reads PINECONE_API_KEY from the environment
const pc = new Pinecone();

await pc.indexes.delete('docs-example');

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "os"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v7/pinecone"
)

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

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

    err = pc.DeleteIndex(ctx, "docs-example")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete index: %v", err)
    }
    fmt.Println("Deleted index docs-example")
}

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: 2026-07"

Invalid API key

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

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

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

{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNKNOWN",
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "status": 500
}

# pip install --upgrade pinecone
import os
from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key=os.environ["PINECONE_API_KEY"])

pc.indexes.delete(name="docs-example")

// npm install @pinecone-database/pinecone
import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone';

// Reads PINECONE_API_KEY from the environment
const pc = new Pinecone();

await pc.indexes.delete('docs-example');

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "os"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v7/pinecone"
)

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

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

    err = pc.DeleteIndex(ctx, "docs-example")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to delete index: %v", err)
    }
    fmt.Println("Deleted index docs-example")
}

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: 2026-07"

Authorizations

Api-Key

string

header

required

An API Key is required to call Pinecone APIs. Get yours from the console.

Headers

X-Pinecone-Api-Version

string

default:2026-07

required

Required date-based version header

Path Parameters

index_name

string

required

The name of the index to delete.

Response

The request to delete the index has been accepted.

APIs

Database

Inference

Admin

SDKs

CLI

Tools

Authorizations

Headers

Path Parameters

Response