DELETE/v1/contacts/{contact_id}beta

Delete a contact

Needs: Create and edit contacts, tags, contact groups and custom fields (crm:write)
Plan: Any plan with API access
Limits: 60 a minute per key
Dry run: Yes — every check runs with ?dry_run=true, nothing changes
Confirm: Header Api-Confirm: delete
Undo: Cannot be undone. Create the contact again with the same phone number.

Deletes one contact. It disappears from groups, tags and future broadcasts.

Refused when the contact has already received messages, so conversation history is never lost.

Try it

Path

contact_idrequired

The contact id.

Idempotency-Keyoptional — made for you if empty

Protects against doing it twice if you retry: a retry with the same key gets the first answer back instead of running again.

Test mode (dry run): nothing will change

Run liveTurns test mode off for this page only. It switches back when you leave the page.

curl -X DELETE 'https://mcp.wa-api.cloud/v1/contacts/48213?dry_run=true' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)"

The code reads your key from $API_KEY.

Parameters
Field	Type	What it is
contact_idrequired	string \| integer · path	The contact id.pattern `^[1-9]\d{0,18}$`Signed in? Pick one from your data with “My data”.

Headers
Field	Type	What it is
Authorizationrequired	header	`Bearer $API_KEY` — your API key.
Api-Version	header	The API version to use, e.g. `2026-10-01`. Default: the version your key is pinned to.one of: `2026-10-01` · pattern `^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$`
Idempotency-Key	header	Any unique string (8–128 characters). A retry with the same key returns the first answer instead of running twice. Kept 24 hours.pattern `^[A-Za-z0-9._:-]+$` · 8–128 characters
Api-Confirmrequired	header	Type the operation's verb (e.g. `delete`, `submit`) to confirm a change that cannot be undone or that WhatsApp or your customers see. Not needed with `dry_run=true`.

Deleted.

Response fields
Field	Type	What it is
idrequired	string
deletedrequired	boolean
dry_run	boolean	`true` when this was a dry run: every check ran and nothing changed.

Errors are application/problem+json. Branch on code.

Status	Code	When
400	invalid_input	A field is missing or has the wrong format. `errors[]` points at each field.
401	unauthenticated	The Authorization header is missing, the key is unknown, expired or revoked.
403	entitlement_required	The workspace's plan does not include API access (`api_access`).
403	forbidden	The contact has received messages and is kept for history.
403	insufficient_scope	The key does not have the permission this operation needs.
404	not_found	No contact with this id.
409	conflict	Also returned while a request with the same Idempotency-Key is still running.
428	confirm_required	Send the header `Api-Confirm: delete` to confirm. Not needed with `dry_run=true`.
429	rate_limited	The key or workspace went over its rate limit. Wait for `Retry-After` seconds.
503	upstream_unavailable	A service behind the API is briefly unavailable. Safe to retry with backoff.
504	timeout	The change did not finish in time. Retry with the same Idempotency-Key: it never runs twice.

Delete a test contact

Response 200

{
  "id": "48213",
  "deleted": true
}

These events can fire after this call. Subscribe an endpoint to hear about them.

The same operation is also at POST /v1/ops/crm_delete_contact, with every field in the JSON body.