> ## 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 a collection

> Delete an existing collection.
Collections are supported only for pod-based indexes. Pod-based indexes cannot be created with API version `2026-07`, so this operation applies to pod-based indexes created with an earlier API version.


<RequestExample>
  ```shell curl theme={null}
  PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

  curl -i -X DELETE "https://api.pinecone.io/collections/example-collection" \
    -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07"
  ```
</RequestExample>


## OpenAPI

````yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pinecone-io/pinecone-api/refs/heads/main/2026-07/db_control_2026-07.oas.yaml delete /collections/{collection_name}
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: Pinecone Control Plane API
  description: >-
    Pinecone is a vector database that makes it easy to search and retrieve
    billions of high-dimensional vectors.
  contact:
    name: Pinecone Support
    url: https://support.pinecone.io
    email: support@pinecone.io
  license:
    name: Apache 2.0
    url: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
  version: 2026-07
servers:
  - url: https://api.pinecone.io
    description: Production API endpoints
security:
  - ApiKeyAuth: []
tags:
  - name: Manage Indexes
    description: Actions that manage indexes
externalDocs:
  description: More Pinecone.io API docs
  url: https://docs.pinecone.io/introduction
paths:
  /collections/{collection_name}:
    delete:
      tags:
        - Manage Indexes
      summary: Delete a collection
      description: >
        Delete an existing collection.

        Collections are supported only for pod-based indexes. Pod-based indexes
        cannot be created with API version `2026-07`, so this operation applies
        to pod-based indexes created with an earlier API version.
      operationId: delete_collection
      parameters:
        - in: header
          name: X-Pinecone-Api-Version
          description: Required date-based version header
          required: true
          schema:
            default: 2026-07
            type: string
          style: simple
        - in: path
          name: collection_name
          description: The name of the collection.
          required: true
          schema:
            type: string
          example: test-collection
          style: simple
      responses:
        '202':
          description: The collection has been successfully deleted.
        '400':
          description: Bad request. The request body included invalid request parameters.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                index-metric-validation-error:
                  summary: Validation error
                  value:
                    error:
                      code: INVALID_ARGUMENT
                      message: >-
                        Bad request. The request body included invalid request
                        parameters.
                    status: 400
        '401':
          description: 'Unauthorized. Possible causes: missing or invalid API key.'
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/UnauthorizedMessage'
        '404':
          description: Collection not found.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                collection-not-found:
                  summary: Collection not found.
                  value:
                    error:
                      code: NOT_FOUND
                      message: Collection example-collection not found.
                    status: 404
        '500':
          description: Internal server error.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
              examples:
                internal-server-error:
                  summary: Internal server error
                  value:
                    error:
                      code: UNKNOWN
                      message: Internal server error
                    status: 500
components:
  schemas:
    ErrorResponse:
      example:
        error:
          code: INVALID_ARGUMENT
          message: >-
            Index name must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters or
            hyphens, and must not begin or end with a hyphen.
        status: 400
      description: The response shape used for all error responses.
      type: object
      properties:
        status:
          example: 500
          description: The HTTP status code of the error.
          type: integer
        error:
          example:
            code: INVALID_ARGUMENT
            message: >-
              Index name must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters or
              hyphens, and must not begin or end with a hyphen.
          description: Detailed information about the error that occurred.
          type: object
          properties:
            code:
              description: >-
                The error code.

                Possible values: `OK`, `UNKNOWN`, `INVALID_ARGUMENT`,
                `DEADLINE_EXCEEDED`, `NOT_FOUND`, `ALREADY_EXISTS`,
                `PERMISSION_DENIED`, `UNAUTHENTICATED`, `RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED`,
                `FAILED_PRECONDITION`, `ABORTED`, `OUT_OF_RANGE`, `INTERNAL`,
                `FORBIDDEN`, `PAYMENT_REQUIRED`, `SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE`,
                `PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE`, or `UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY`.
              x-enum:
                - OK
                - UNKNOWN
                - INVALID_ARGUMENT
                - DEADLINE_EXCEEDED
                - NOT_FOUND
                - ALREADY_EXISTS
                - PERMISSION_DENIED
                - UNAUTHENTICATED
                - RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
                - FAILED_PRECONDITION
                - ABORTED
                - OUT_OF_RANGE
                - INTERNAL
                - FORBIDDEN
                - PAYMENT_REQUIRED
                - SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
                - PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE
                - UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY
              type: string
            message:
              example: >-
                Index name must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters
                or hyphens, and must not begin or end with a hyphen.
              description: A human-readable description of the error
              type: string
            details:
              description: >-
                Additional information about the error. This field is not
                guaranteed to be present.
              type: object
          required:
            - code
            - message
      required:
        - status
        - error
    UnauthorizedMessage:
      example: Invalid API key
      description: >-
        The plain-text body of a `401` response. Authentication failures are
        rejected before the request reaches the API, so they carry a short
        message rather than an `ErrorResponse`.
      type: string
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: Api-Key
      description: >-
        An API Key is required to call Pinecone APIs. Get yours from the
        [console](https://app.pinecone.io/).

````