How to delete records?¶

SQLRecords can be deleted with record.delete(), which will permanently remove them from your database.

When it comes to records of Artifact and Collection, they are “moved into trash” when you first call record.delete().

Trashed records are invisible in the UI and excluded from the query results.
If a record is already in the trash or permanent=True is passed, calling record.delete() triggers permanent delete.

# !pip install lamindb
!lamin init --storage test-delete

→ initialized lamindb: testuser1/test-delete

import lamindb as ln
import pandas as pd

→ connected lamindb: testuser1/test-delete

artifact = ln.Artifact.from_dataframe(
    pd.DataFrame({"a": [1, 2], "b": [3, 4]}), description="mydf"
)
artifact.save()

! no run & transform got linked, call `ln.track()` & re-run

Artifact(uid='J2UsuEx7KD71Z7oq0000', is_latest=True, description='mydf', suffix='.parquet', kind='dataset', otype='DataFrame', size=2068, hash='eM_il92GbTmhwqdnSMYd2w', n_observations=2, branch_id=1, space_id=1, storage_id=1, created_by_id=1, created_at=2025-10-16 11:49:50 UTC, is_locked=False)

ln.Artifact.to_dataframe()

	uid	key	description	suffix	kind	otype	size	hash	n_files	n_observations	_hash_type	_key_is_virtual	_overwrite_versions	space_id	storage_id	schema_id	version	is_latest	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	_real_key	branch_id
id
1	J2UsuEx7KD71Z7oq0000	None	mydf	.parquet	dataset	DataFrame	2068	eM_il92GbTmhwqdnSMYd2w	None	2	md5	True	False	1	1	None	None	True	False	None	2025-10-16 11:49:50.386000+00:00	1	{'af': {'0': True}}	None	1

Trash an artifact¶

artifact.delete()

! moved record to trash (branch_id = -1): Artifact(uid='J2UsuEx7KD71Z7oq0000', is_latest=True, description='mydf', suffix='.parquet', kind='dataset', otype='DataFrame', size=2068, hash='eM_il92GbTmhwqdnSMYd2w', n_observations=2, branch_id=-1, space_id=1, storage_id=1, created_by_id=1, created_at=2025-10-16 11:49:50 UTC, is_locked=False)

No longer visible:

ln.Artifact.to_dataframe()

	uid	id	key	description	suffix	kind	otype	size	hash	n_files	n_observations	_hash_type	_key_is_virtual	_overwrite_versions	space_id	storage_id	schema_id	version	is_latest	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	_real_key	branch_id

But the artifact still exists in the database and in storage, you can find it by passing None to the visibility filter:

ln.Artifact.filter(visibility=None).to_dataframe()

	uid	key	description	suffix	kind	otype	size	hash	n_files	n_observations	_hash_type	_key_is_virtual	_overwrite_versions	space_id	storage_id	schema_id	version	is_latest	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	_real_key	branch_id
id
1	J2UsuEx7KD71Z7oq0000	None	mydf	.parquet	dataset	DataFrame	2068	eM_il92GbTmhwqdnSMYd2w	None	2	md5	True	False	1	1	None	None	True	False	None	2025-10-16 11:49:50.386000+00:00	1	{'af': {'0': True}}	None	-1

You can restore an artifact from trash:

artifact.restore()
ln.Artifact.to_dataframe()

	uid	key	description	suffix	kind	otype	size	hash	n_files	n_observations	_hash_type	_key_is_virtual	_overwrite_versions	space_id	storage_id	schema_id	version	is_latest	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	_real_key	branch_id
id
1	J2UsuEx7KD71Z7oq0000	None	mydf	.parquet	dataset	DataFrame	2068	eM_il92GbTmhwqdnSMYd2w	None	2	md5	True	False	1	1	None	None	True	False	None	2025-10-16 11:49:50.386000+00:00	1	{'af': {'0': True}}	None	1

ln.Storage.to_dataframe()

	uid	root	description	type	region	instance_uid	space_id	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	branch_id
id
1	zeOhU51mdlv9	/home/runner/work/lamindb/lamindb/docs/faq/tes...	None	local	None	4Kf3utIIfnlJ	1	False	None	2025-10-16 11:49:48.072000+00:00	1	None	1

Permanent delete¶

Calling artifact.delete on a trashed artifact triggers a permanent delete dialog. You can pass permanent=True to auto-confirm the deletion.

artifact.delete(permanent=True)

Now its gone in the database:

ln.Artifact.filter(visibility=None).to_dataframe()

	uid	id	key	description	suffix	kind	otype	size	hash	n_files	n_observations	_hash_type	_key_is_virtual	_overwrite_versions	space_id	storage_id	schema_id	version	is_latest	is_locked	run_id	created_at	created_by_id	_aux	_real_key	branch_id

!lamin delete --force test-delete

• deleting instance testuser1/test-delete