Delete points

Remove points from a collection by ID and compact to reclaim storage.

Delete individual points or batches of points from your collection. Deleted points can be recovered only before you compact the collection.

You need an existing collection with points. See Insert points to add data first.

Delete a single point

The following example removes a single point by ID.

Python

from actian_vectorai import VectorAIClient

COLLECTION = "products"

# Connect to VectorAI DB server
with VectorAIClient("localhost:6574") as client:
    # Delete point with ID 11
    client.points.delete_by_ids(COLLECTION, ids=[11])
    print("Point deleted successfully")

import { VectorAIClient } from '@actian/vectorai-client';

const COLLECTION = "products";

async function main() {
    const client = new VectorAIClient('localhost:6574');

    try {
        // Delete point with ID 11
        await client.points.deleteByIds(COLLECTION, [11], { wait: true });
        console.log("Point deleted successfully");
    } finally {
        client.close();
    }
}

main().catch(console.error);

Delete multiple points

Deleting a nonexistent point does not cause an error — the operation completes successfully regardless of whether the point exists. The following example removes multiple points at once.

Python

from actian_vectorai import VectorAIClient

COLLECTION = "products"

# Connect to VectorAI DB server
with VectorAIClient("localhost:6574") as client:
    # Delete multiple points
    delete_ids = [9, 10, 12, 13]
    client.points.delete_by_ids(COLLECTION, ids=delete_ids)
    
    print(f"Deleted {len(delete_ids)} points")

import { VectorAIClient } from '@actian/vectorai-client';

const COLLECTION = "products";

async function main() {
    const client = new VectorAIClient('localhost:6574');

    try {
        // Delete multiple points
        const deleteIds = [9, 10, 12, 13];
        await client.points.deleteByIds(COLLECTION, deleteIds, { wait: true });

        console.log(`Deleted ${deleteIds.length} points`);
    } finally {
        client.close();
    }
}

main().catch(console.error);

Compact a collection

After deleting points, run a compaction operation to reclaim storage space and optimize the index. The compact() method is an alias for optimize().

Compaction permanently removes deleted points from storage, rebuilds the index structure, and reclaims disk space. Run compaction after large-scale deletions to maintain optimal performance.

Compaction is a resource-intensive operation that may temporarily impact collection performance. Run during low-traffic periods when possible.

Python

from actian_vectorai import VectorAIClient

COLLECTION = "products"

# Connect to VectorAI DB server
with VectorAIClient("localhost:6574") as client:
    # Delete points
    client.points.delete_by_ids(COLLECTION, ids=[9, 10, 11, 12])
    print("Deleted 4 points")

    # Compact to reclaim storage
    print("Compacting collection...")
    client.vde.optimize(COLLECTION)  # Optimize and reclaim space
    print("Collection compacted successfully")

import { VectorAIClient } from '@actian/vectorai-client';

const COLLECTION = "products";

async function main() {
    const client = new VectorAIClient('localhost:6574');

    try {
        // Delete points
        await client.points.deleteByIds(COLLECTION, [9, 10, 11, 12], { wait: true });
        console.log("Deleted 4 points");

        // Compact to reclaim storage
        console.log("Compacting collection...");
        await client.vde.optimize(COLLECTION);  // Optimize and reclaim space
        console.log("Collection compacted successfully");
    } finally {
        client.close();
    }
}

main().catch(console.error);