Delete a collection

Deleting collections

This endpoint allows you to permanently remove a collection and all its objects from Tallyfy Answers. This operation is irreversible and should be used with caution.

Permanent Action

Deleting a collection permanently removes all objects within it. This action cannot be undone, and there is no way to recover the data once deleted.

API endpoint

DELETE /v1/collections/{collection_name}

Path parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
collection_name	string	Yes	Name of the collection to delete

Response

A successful deletion returns a 200 OK status code with a confirmation response:

{
  "name": "products",
  "status": "deleted"
}

Error scenarios

Status	Description
404	Collection not found
400	Invalid collection name format
403	Permission denied (if applicable)

Example request

curl -X DELETE https://go.tallyfy.com/api/v1/collections/products \
  -H "X-Answers-API-Key: your_api_key"

When to delete a collection

Consider deleting a collection when:

• The data is no longer needed for any purpose
• You need to rebuild a collection with a different structure
• You want to remove test or development data
• You’re performing cleanup of unused resources

Alternatives to deletion

Instead of permanently deleting a collection, consider these alternatives:

• Export the data before deletion for backup purposes
• Create a new collection with only the objects you want to keep
• Use application-level filtering to hide certain objects from users

Best practices

• Always confirm collection names before deletion
• Consider implementing a confirmation step in your application
• Back up important data before deletion
• Use descriptive logging to track deletion operations
• Verify permissions carefully to prevent unauthorized deletions

Related articles

Objects > Delete an object

A DELETE endpoint permanently removes individual objects from collections through HTTP requests and returns status codes while emphasizing the irreversible nature of deletion operations.

Collections > Create a collection

Collections must be created with unique names before adding objects to Tallyfy Answers which automatically detects data types like strings and string lists when indexing through a POST API endpoint.

Answers > Collections

Collections in Tallyfy Answers serve as organizational containers that group similar objects together while enabling operations like searching filtering and managing data through dynamic schemas and efficient organization methods.

Collections > Get a collection

The GET endpoint retrieves detailed collection information including metadata schema and object counts by using a unique collection name while returning a JSON response with appropriate status codes and error handling.