# Delete a contact

Source: https://docs.emelia.io/docs/lists/delete-contact

Guide: [Lists & contacts](https://docs.emelia.io/docs/lists.md)

`DELETE https://api.emelia.io/lists/list/{listId}/rows/{leadId}`

Permanently deletes a contact and its company row. The contact can live in the list or in a list linked to it. It is removed from the campaigns that reference it, the list counters are decremented and the campaigns using the list are resynchronized. This cannot be undone. A second call for the same contact returns 404.

Find the `leadId` with the exact lookup of `GET /lists/list/{listId}/rows`. Company-only rows (`co:` ids) cannot be deleted with this route.

## Authentication

Send your API key in the `Authorization` header: `Authorization: <your API key>`.

## Path parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `listId` | string | yes | List id. |
| `leadId` | string | yes | Contact id. |

## Example request

**cURL**

```bash
curl -X DELETE "https://api.emelia.io/lists/list/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f760f68df4/rows/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f7af1c3d42" \
  -H "Authorization: $EMELIA_API_KEY"
```

**JavaScript**

```js
const response = await fetch('https://api.emelia.io/lists/list/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f760f68df4/rows/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f7af1c3d42', {
  method: 'DELETE',
  headers: { Authorization: process.env.EMELIA_API_KEY },
});
console.log(await response.json());
```

**Python**

```python
import os
import requests

response = requests.delete(
    "https://api.emelia.io/lists/list/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f760f68df4/rows/65f1a2b3c4d5e6f7af1c3d42",
    headers={"Authorization": os.environ["EMELIA_API_KEY"]},
)
print(response.json())
```

## Responses

### 200: Contact deleted.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `success` | boolean | yes |  |

```json
{
  "success": true
}
```

### 400: Invalid list id or contact id.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `message` | string | yes | English, human-readable message. |
| `code` | string | no | Stable error code, when available (for example `PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE`, `INVALID_JSON`, `export_too_large`, `companies_only`, `enrichment_running`). |
| `params` | object | no |  |
| `error` | string | no | Raw internal message (unexpected errors only). |

```json
{
  "message": "Invalid id"
}
```

### 401: Missing, unknown or disabled API key, or the account of the key no longer exists. Note the body shape: `error` and `code`, not `message`.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `error` | string | yes |  |
| `code` | enum: `AUTH_REQUIRED`, `ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND` | yes |  |

```json
{
  "error": "string",
  "code": "AUTH_REQUIRED"
}
```

### 404: List not found (or not yours), or contact not found in this list or its linked lists.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `message` | string | yes | English, human-readable message. |
| `code` | string | no | Stable error code, when available (for example `PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE`, `INVALID_JSON`, `export_too_large`, `companies_only`, `enrichment_running`). |
| `params` | object | no |  |
| `error` | string | no | Raw internal message (unexpected errors only). |

```json
{
  "message": "string",
  "code": "string",
  "params": {},
  "error": "string"
}
```

### 500: Unexpected server error. `error`, when present, is a raw internal message: do not parse it. Retry later.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `message` | string | yes | English, human-readable message. |
| `code` | string | no | Stable error code, when available (for example `PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE`, `INVALID_JSON`, `export_too_large`, `companies_only`, `enrichment_running`). |
| `params` | object | no |  |
| `error` | string | no | Raw internal message (unexpected errors only). |

```json
{
  "message": "Hmm... Something went wrong. Please try again later."
}
```