> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gurubase.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Erase End-User Data

> Erase everything a Guru holds about one end user

People who reach your Guru through a widget, a chat bot or the API do not have a
Gurubase account, so they cannot use the account tools to see or delete their data.
This endpoint is how the team running the Guru answers their access (GDPR Art. 15)
and erasure (Art. 17) requests. Which party is the controller for that data
depends on your deployment and your agreement with us; see the
[privacy policy](https://gurubase.io/privacy-policy/) and your DPA rather than
treating this page as the answer.

Everything is scoped to the Guru in the path, so a key cannot reach another Guru's
data even for the same end-user id.

## Path Parameters

<ParamField path="guru_slug" type="string" required>
  The Guru the end user interacted with
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="external_user_id" type="string" required>
  The identifier your integration supplied when the questions were asked
</ParamField>

## Headers

<ParamField header="x-api-key" type="string" required>
  Your API key. You can obtain one from the [Gurubase dashboard](https://app.gurubase.io/api-keys).
</ParamField>

Choose the mode with the `mode` query parameter.

<ParamField query="mode" type="string" default="detach">
  `detach` removes the identifiers from their questions, their rejected questions
  and their conversations, keeping the question text as your Guru's analytics
  history. `purge` deletes those questions, rejected questions and conversations
  outright.
</ParamField>

<Warning>
  `detach` is the default because it cannot destroy content you did not mean to
  lose, but it leaves the person's own words in your Guru. To answer a genuine
  erasure request in full, use `mode=purge`.
</Warning>

Stored memories, the stored profile, the semantic search history and any files
the person uploaded are deleted in **both** modes.

<Note>
  The mode only decides what happens to the question text, which is your Guru's
  analytics history. A profile is not your content: it is a record built about the
  person, holding whatever they told the Guru about themselves. Neither is a file
  they attached, which is their own document. There is no mode that keeps either.
</Note>

Uploaded files means the stored object itself, not only the row pointing at it:
the images, log files and documents attached to their questions are removed from
storage, along with the cached description of each image and the debugging record
of each log file.

<Warning>
  Deleting a file cannot be undone or rolled back, so it happens before the
  database work. If the request then fails, retry it: the second attempt finds the
  files already gone and finishes the rest.
</Warning>

<ResponseExample>
  ```json 200 theme={null}
  {
      "external_user_id": "end-user-123",
      "result": {
          "mode": "detach",
          "questions": 4,
          "rejected_questions": 1,
          "conversations": 1,
          "searches": 2,
          "profile": 1,
          "question_text_retained": true,
          "memories_cleared": true,
          "files": {
              "files": 3,
              "cached_image_descriptions": 1,
              "log_extractions": 1
          },
          "notice": "Identifiers were removed but the question text was kept as guru analytics. Use mode=purge to delete the questions themselves. The stored profile, search history and any uploaded files were deleted in either mode."
      }
  }
  ```

  ```json 400 theme={null}
  {
      "msg": "mode must be one of detach, purge"
  }
  ```

  ```json 404 theme={null}
  {
      "msg": "Guru type my-guru not found"
  }
  ```
</ResponseExample>

`memories_cleared` is reported separately: if the memory store was unreachable the
rows are still gone but the memories are not, and you should retry rather than
record the request as complete.

To read the same person's data before erasing it, see
[Get End-User Data](/api-reference/endpoints/end-user-data).