Delete File

Overview The Delete File API permanently removes a file from your Gravix Layer organization. This action cannot be undone, so use with caution. Deleted files are immediately removed from storage and cannot be recovered. Key Features

Immediate deletion with instant storage reclaim
Cascade handling for dependent operations
Confirmation response to verify deletion success
Error prevention for files in active use
Audit logging for security and compliance

Common Use Cases

Storage Cleanup
Security Compliance
Batch Cleanup

Remove unnecessary files to manage storage costs:

# Delete expired or unused files
files = client.files.list()

for file in files.data:
    if should_delete(file):
        client.files.delete(file.id)
        print(f"Deleted {file.filename}")

Remove sensitive files after processing:

# Process sensitive document then delete
result = process_sensitive_document("file-abc123")

# Immediately delete after processing
client.files.delete("file-abc123")
print("Sensitive file securely deleted")

Clean up temporary batch processing files:

# Delete completed batch files
batch_files = client.files.list(purpose="batch_output")

for file in batch_files.data:
    if file.created_at < cutoff_time:
        client.files.delete(file.id)

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`file_id`	string	Yes	The ID of the file to delete

Example Request

curl -X DELETE https://api.gravixlayer.com/v1/files/file-abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAVIXLAYER_API_KEY"

Response

{
  "id": "file-abc123",
  "object": "file",
  "deleted": true
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	ID of the deleted file
`object`	string	Always “file”
`deleted`	boolean	`true` if deletion was successful

Error Responses

Status Code	Error Type	Description
`404`	`file_not_found`	File with the specified ID does not exist
`401`	`authentication_error`	Invalid or missing API key
`403`	`permission_denied`	File belongs to a different organization
`409`	`file_in_use`	File is currently being used and cannot be deleted

Use Cases

Cleanup Old Files
Safe Deletion
Bulk Deletion
Delete by Purpose

Delete files older than a certain age:

import time

def cleanup_old_files(max_age_days=30):
    """Delete files older than specified days"""
    current_time = time.time()
    deleted_count = 0
    
    # List all files
    files = client.files.list()
    
    for file in files.data:
        file_age_days = (current_time - file.created_at) / (24 * 60 * 60)
        
        if file_age_days > max_age_days:
            try:
                client.files.delete(file.id)
                print(f"🗑️  Deleted old file: {file.filename} ({file_age_days:.1f} days old)")
                deleted_count += 1
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"❌ Failed to delete {file.filename}: {e}")
    
    print(f"✅ Cleanup complete: {deleted_count} files deleted")

# Delete files older than 30 days
cleanup_old_files(30)

Delete files with confirmation and error handling:

def safe_delete_file(file_id, confirm=True):
    """Safely delete a file with confirmation"""
    
    # Get file info first
    try:
        file_info = client.files.retrieve(file_id)
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ Cannot retrieve file info: {e}")
        return False
    
    # Show file information
    print(f"📄 File to delete:")
    print(f"   ID: {file_info.id}")
    print(f"   Name: {file_info.filename}")
    print(f"   Size: {file_info.bytes:,} bytes")
    print(f"   Purpose: {file_info.purpose}")
    
    # Confirmation
    if confirm:
        response = input("⚠️  Are you sure you want to delete this file? (yes/no): ")
        if response.lower() not in ['yes', 'y']:
            print("❌ Deletion cancelled")
            return False
    
    # Delete file
    try:
        result = client.files.delete(file_id)
        if result.deleted:
            print(f"✅ File deleted successfully")
            return True
        else:
            print(f"❌ Deletion failed")
            return False
            
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ Error during deletion: {e}")
        return False

# Usage
safe_delete_file("file-abc123")

Delete multiple files at once:

def delete_files_bulk(file_ids, max_workers=5):
    """Delete multiple files concurrently"""
    import concurrent.futures
    
    def delete_single_file(file_id):
        try:
            result = client.files.delete(file_id)
            return f"✅ Deleted: {file_id}"
        except Exception as e:
            return f"❌ Failed to delete {file_id}: {e}"
    
    print(f"🗑️  Deleting {len(file_ids)} files...")
    
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
        results = list(executor.map(delete_single_file, file_ids))
    
    # Show results
    success_count = 0
    for result in results:
        print(result)
        if "✅" in result:
            success_count += 1
    
    print(f"📊 Summary: {success_count}/{len(file_ids)} files deleted successfully")

# Usage
files_to_delete = ["file-abc123", "file-def456", "file-ghi789"]
delete_files_bulk(files_to_delete)

Delete all files with a specific purpose:

def delete_files_by_purpose(purpose, max_age_days=None):
    """Delete all files with specified purpose"""
    
    # List files with specific purpose
    files = client.files.list(purpose=purpose)
    
    if not files.data:
        print(f"📭 No files found with purpose: {purpose}")
        return
    
    files_to_delete = []
    current_time = time.time()
    
    for file in files.data:
        # Check age if specified
        if max_age_days:
            file_age_days = (current_time - file.created_at) / (24 * 60 * 60)
            if file_age_days < max_age_days:
                continue
        
        files_to_delete.append(file)
    
    if not files_to_delete:
        print(f"📭 No files to delete matching criteria")
        return
    
    # Show what will be deleted
    print(f"🗑️  Found {len(files_to_delete)} files to delete:")
    total_size = 0
    for file in files_to_delete:
        total_size += file.bytes
        print(f"   - {file.filename} ({file.bytes:,} bytes)")
    
    print(f"📊 Total size: {total_size / 1024 / 1024:.1f} MB")
    
    # Confirm deletion
    response = input("⚠️  Proceed with deletion? (yes/no): ")
    if response.lower() not in ['yes', 'y']:
        print("❌ Deletion cancelled")
        return
    
    # Delete files
    deleted_count = 0
    for file in files_to_delete:
        try:
            client.files.delete(file.id)
            print(f"✅ Deleted: {file.filename}")
            deleted_count += 1
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"❌ Failed to delete {file.filename}: {e}")
    
    print(f"📊 Deleted {deleted_count}/{len(files_to_delete)} files")

# Usage examples
delete_files_by_purpose("batch")  # Delete all batch files
delete_files_by_purpose("user_data", max_age_days=7)  # Delete user_data files older than 7 days

Best Practices

File deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Always verify file IDs and consider backing up important files before deletion.

Safe Deletion Pattern

def production_safe_delete(file_id):
    """Production-safe file deletion with all checks"""
    
    # 1. Verify file exists and get info
    try:
        file_info = client.files.retrieve(file_id)
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ File not found or accessible: {e}")
        return False
    
    # 2. Check if file might be in use (for certain purposes)
    high_risk_purposes = ["fine-tune", "batch"]
    if file_info.purpose in high_risk_purposes:
        print(f"⚠️  Warning: Deleting {file_info.purpose} file may affect active processes")
    
    # 3. Log the deletion attempt
    print(f"🗑️  Attempting to delete file:")
    print(f"   ID: {file_info.id}")
    print(f"   Name: {file_info.filename}")
    print(f"   Purpose: {file_info.purpose}")
    
    # 4. Perform deletion with error handling
    try:
        result = client.files.delete(file_id)
        
        if result.deleted:
            print(f"✅ File deleted successfully")
            # Log successful deletion
            return True
        else:
            print(f"❌ Deletion returned false")
            return False
            
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ Deletion failed: {e}")
        return False

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

API key authentication. Get your API key from the Gravix Layer Dashboard.

Path Parameters

file_id

string

required

The ID of the file to delete

Response

200

File deleted successfully

Getting Started

AI Inference

Embeddings

Files

Vectors

Deployments

AgentBox

Example Request

Response

Response Fields

Error Responses

Use Cases

Best Practices

Safe Deletion Pattern

Authorizations

Path Parameters

Response

Getting Started

AI Inference

Embeddings

Files

Vectors

Deployments

AgentBox

​Example Request

​Response

​Response Fields

​Error Responses

​Use Cases

​Best Practices

​Safe Deletion Pattern

Authorizations

Path Parameters

Response

Example Request

Response

Response Fields

Error Responses

Use Cases

Best Practices

Safe Deletion Pattern