/projects/{project_id}/branches/{branch_id}Delete branch
Deletes the specified branch from a project and places all compute endpoints into an idle state, breaking existing client connections.
The deletion completes after all operations finish. You cannot delete a project's root or default branch, or a branch that has a child branch. A project must have at least one branch.
By default, deleted branches can be recovered within a 7-day grace period.
Use the hard_delete parameter to permanently delete the branch immediately.
For related information, see Manage branches.
Quick start
curl "https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/$PROJECT_ID/branches/$BRANCH_ID" \
-X DELETE \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $NEON_API_KEY"Every field below is optional. An empty body works too.
neon branches delete <branch_id>Parameters
project_idThe Neon project ID
branch_idThe branch ID
hard_deleteIf true, the branch is permanently deleted immediately without a recovery window. If false (default), the branch can be recovered within 7 days via the recover endpoint.
This parameter is part of the Branch Recovery feature, which is in preview and not available to all users.
Response
200Deleted the specified branch
Errors
General error
This endpoint can return the standard Neon API error response.
Response fields
messageRequired. Human-readable error message.codeRequired. Machine-readable error code.request_idOptional. Request identifier for debugging. You can provide one with theX-Request-IDheader.
Retry guidance
If no response is returned, the request may still have reached the server. This is why retry safety depends on the method and status code.
Idempotent methods (GET, HEAD, OPTIONS) are generally safe to retry after a network error or timeout. Non-idempotent methods (POST, PATCH, DELETE, PUT) can change state, so avoid automatic retries unless your workflow can tolerate duplicate effects.
Responses with 423 Locked or 503 Service Unavailable are safe to retry. 423 Locked means the resource is temporarily locked, usually because another operation is in progress.