Contacts

Delete a contact

DELETE
/api/v1/contacts/{id}

Hard-deletes a contact and its events; sent-message history is retained for the audit log. Requires a write-scope key.

Authorization

bearerAuth write
headerAuthorizationBearer <token>

An API key from the dashboard under Settings → API keys, sent as Authorization: Bearer aem_….

Authorization has two independent axes.

The scope is ranked — a key satisfies any requirement at or below its own tier:

  • read — see messages, contacts and metrics. Changes nothing, and cannot send.
  • write — everything read does, plus managing templates, contacts, automations, segments and suppressions. This is what editing a template needs.
  • admin — everything write does, plus sending configuration: domains, senders, webhook registration, kill switch, daily cap, brand.

There is no approve scope. It was a rung once; it is not one now, and a key requested with it is rejected.

The approval grant (can_approve) is a separate boolean, not a rung. Delivering mail to a real inbox needs write and the grant. Keeping them on separate axes is what makes the review gate a control rather than a convention: a key that may propose is not automatically a key that may approve its own proposal.

Give your application the lowest tier that works. Most need write and the grant — the dashboard mints that combination as Send + manage; Manage only is the same rung with the grant withheld.

Scope: write

Path Parameters

id*string

Contact id.

Response Body

Deleted.

application/json
  1. response
id?string
deleted?boolean
Example Request
curl -X DELETE 'https://sendandretain.com/api/v1/contacts/string'
Example Response
{  "id": "string",  "deleted": true}