---
title: "Delete a contact"
description: "Deletes somebody from the contacts the way Delete does in the app. A saved contact goes, and in the same transaction every audience membership it held, including the built-in default one, and its photo. The address is then hidden: it leaves `GET /contacts/people`, and mail sent to it from the app composer no longer records it. No mail moves, and the address can still be written to."
url: "https://nextmail.sh/docs/api/contacts/delete"
area: "API"
category: "Mailbox"
---

# Delete a contact

Deletes somebody from the contacts the way Delete does in the app. A saved contact goes, and in the same transaction every audience membership it held, including the built-in default one, and its photo. The address is then hidden: it leaves `GET /contacts/people`, and mail sent to it from the app composer no longer records it. No mail moves, and the address can still be written to.

`DELETE /contacts/{email}`

## DELETE /contacts/{email}

Deletes somebody from the contacts the way Delete does in the app. A saved contact goes, and in the same transaction every audience membership it held, including the built-in default one, and its photo. The address is then hidden: it leaves `GET /contacts/people`, and mail sent to it from the app composer no longer records it. No mail moves, and the address can still be written to.

## Example

Needs `contacts:write`. URL-encode the `@`.

**curl**

```
curl -X DELETE "$OE/contacts/grace%40example.com" -H "$AUTH"
```

**Response**

```
{
  "object": "contact",
  "email": "grace@example.com",
  "deleted": true,
  "wasSaved": true
}
```

> There is no undo. Saving the address again, with `POST /contacts` or `PUT /contacts/{email}`, brings it back as a new contact with no name, no notes and no membership beyond the default audience.

> The address can be one that was only ever seen in mail, which is how somebody leaves the people list. It answers `200` with `wasSaved` false rather than a `404`, and a second delete answers the same way.

> Something that is not an address is a `422` `invalid_contact`. `POST /contacts/batch-delete` deletes up to 200 addresses in one call.

## Reference

- [`DELETE /contacts/{email}`](https://nextmail.sh/docs/api/reference/contacts#delete-contacts-email): full reference