delete

Remove records from your database

delete removes a single record matched by a unique identifier and returns it. It throws if the record doesn’t exist.

const user = await client.user.delete({
  where: { id: "user_123" },
});
// Result: the deleted record

Options

await client.user.delete({
  where: { ... },       // Required: unique identifier
  select: { ... },      // Optional: fields to return
  include: { ... },     // Optional: relations to include
});

select and include control the returned shape — see Selecting Fields.

Conditional Deletes

The where may narrow the unique lookup with non-unique scalar filters and AND / OR / NOT:

// delete this token, but only if it has already expired
await client.token.delete({
  where: { id: "tok_1", expiresAt: { lt: new Date() } },
});

If the unique key matches but the filter excludes the row, the delete is a NotFoundError and the row survives. See Narrowing a Unique Lookup for the full where shape.

Cascading Deletes

When a record is deleted, related records are handled based on onDelete:

const post = s.model({
  authorId: s.string(),
  author: s
    .manyToOne(() => user)
    .fields("authorId")
    .references("id")
    .onDelete("cascade"), // Delete posts when user is deleted
});

Soft Delete Pattern

Instead of deleting, mark records as deleted:

const user = s.model({
  id: s.string().id(),
  deleted: s.boolean().default(false),
  deletedAt: s.dateTime().nullable(),
});

// Soft delete
async function softDeleteUser(id: string) {
  return client.user.update({
    where: { id },
    data: {
      deleted: true,
      deletedAt: new Date(),
    },
  });
}

// Query only active records
async function getActiveUsers() {
  return client.user.findMany({
    where: { deleted: false },
  });
}

Examples

Delete User Account

async function deleteAccount(userId: string) {
  // Delete in correct order due to FK constraints
  await client.post.deleteMany({
    where: { authorId: userId },
  });

  await client.profile.delete({
    where: { userId },
  }).catch(() => {}); // Ignore if no profile

  return client.user.delete({
    where: { id: userId },
  });
}