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 in Tallyfy Answers are created through a POST API endpoint that requires a unique name and optional description while automatically detecting data types and supporting various naming conventions with proper error handling.

Objects > Get an object

You can retrieve individual objects from Tallyfy Answers using a GET request to the API endpoint with the collection name and object ID which returns the complete object data with all properties including system fields like creation and update timestamps.

Answers > Collections

Collections in Tallyfy Answers are organizational structures that function like database tables to group similar objects together with features for dynamic schema detection efficient organization searchability scalability and comprehensive management operations.