This guide shows you how to delete product documents from your Marqo ecommerce search index. Learn how to remove specific products by ID or completely reset your index.

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Prerequisites

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Delete Documents by ID

Remove specific product documents by making a DELETE /documents request with an ids array in the request body. Endpoint: DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents Request Body: 
{
  "ids": ["43207430723", "43207430724", "43207430725"]
}

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Single Product Deletion

Delete one product by providing a single ID in the ids array: 
{
  "ids": ["43207430723"]
}

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Batch Product Deletion

Delete multiple products by providing multiple IDs: 
{
  "ids": ["43207430723", "43207430724", "43207430725", "43208765432"]
}

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Single Product Deletion

Delete one specific product by providing its ID: 
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
	-d '{"ids": ["43207430723"]}'

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Batch Product Deletion

Delete multiple products efficiently in a single request: 
# Delete multiple products
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
	-d '{"ids": ["43207430723", "43207430724", "43207430725", "43208765432"]}'

# Delete product variants
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
	-d '{"ids": ["43207430726", "43207430727", "43207430728"]}'
Note: Replace {index_name} with your actual index name and {api_key} with your API key.

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Deletion Response

The response provides detailed information about the deletion operation: 
{
    "details": {
        "deletedDocuments": 2, 
        "receivedDocumentIds": 2
    },
    "items": [
        {"_id": "43207430723", "result": "deleted", "status": 200},
        {"_id": "43207430724", "result": "deleted", "status": 200}
    ]
}

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Response Fields

Field NameTypeDescription
details.deletedDocumentsIntegerNumber of documents successfully deleted
details.receivedDocumentIdsIntegerNumber of document IDs received in the request
itemsArrayStatus of each individual document deletion
items[].\_idStringThe ID of the document
items[].resultStringResult of the deletion operation
items[].statusIntegerHTTP status code for this specific deletion

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Status Codes

Status CodeDescription
200Document successfully deleted
404Document with the specified ID was not found
400Bad request (invalid ID format)
500Internal error

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Common Deletion Scenarios

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Product Discontinuation

Remove discontinued products from your catalog: 
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ids": ["43209876543", "43209876544", "43209876545"]}'

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Variant Management

Remove specific variants while keeping the parent product: 
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ids": ["43207654321", "43207654322"]}'

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Seasonal Cleanup

Remove seasonal products after the season ends: 
curl -X DELETE https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/documents \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ids": ["43208123456", "43208123457", "43208123458"]}'

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Catalog Migration

Reset index before importing new catalog: 
# Clear existing catalog
curl -X POST https://ecom.marqo-ep.ai/api/v1/indexes/{index_name}/reset \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {api_key}" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json"

# Then add new catalog using the add documents endpoint

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Best Practices

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Deletion Safety

  • Verify IDs - Ensure product IDs exist before attempting deletion
  • Backup data - Keep backups before bulk deletions
  • Test first - Test deletion operations on a staging index
  • Batch wisely - Delete in reasonable batch sizes (50-100 IDs)