This page describes how to create a static copy of a pod-based index, also known as a collection.

​
Create a collection

To create a backup of your pod-based index, use the create_collection operation. The following example creates a collection named example-collection from an index named docs-example: 
# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="API_KEY")
pc.create_collection("example-collection", "docs-example")
You can create a collection using the Pinecone console.

​
Check the status of a collection

To retrieve the status of the process creating a collection and the size of the collection, use the describe_collection operation. Specify the name of the collection to check. You can only call describe_collection on a collection in the current project. The describe_collection operation returns an object containing key-value pairs representing the name of the collection, the size in bytes, and the creation status of the collection. The following example gets the creation status and size of a collection named example-collection. 
# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key='API_KEY')
pc.describe_collection(name="example-collection")
You can check the status of a collection using the Pinecone console.

​
List your collections

To get a list of the collections in the current project, use the list_collections operation. 
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key='API_KEY')
pc.list_collections()
You can view a list of your collections using the Pinecone console.

​
Delete a collection

To delete a collection, use the delete_collection operation. Specify the name of the collection to delete. Deleting the collection takes several minutes. During this time, the describe_collection operation returns the status “deleting”. 
# pip install "pinecone[grpc]"
from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key='API_KEY')
pc.delete_collection("example-collection")
You can delete a collection using the Pinecone console.