Skip to main content
DELETE
/
users
/
{id}
curl -X DELETE https://api.library.com/users/1 \
  -u username:password

{
  "204": {},
  "401": {},
  "404": {}
}

​
Authentication

This endpoint requires HTTP Basic Authentication.

​
Path Parameters

​
id
long
required
The unique identifier of the user to delete

​
Response

This endpoint returns no content on successful deletion.
Deleting a user is a permanent operation and cannot be undone. Ensure you have proper authorization before deleting user accounts.

​
Status Codes

​
204
No Content
User successfully deleted. No response body is returned.
​
401
Unauthorized
Missing or invalid authentication credentials
​
404
Not Found
User with the specified ID does not exist (note: the controller implementation returns 204 even if the user doesn’t exist)
The current implementation returns 204 No Content regardless of whether the user exists. This is an idempotent operation - deleting a non-existent user is treated the same as successfully deleting an existing user.
curl -X DELETE https://api.library.com/users/1 \
  -u username:password

​
Considerations

Before deleting a user, consider the following:
  • Borrowed Books: If the user has active book rentals (borrowed books not yet returned), you may want to handle these first
  • Historical Records: Consider whether you need to preserve rental history for audit purposes
  • Cascade Behavior: Check your database configuration for how related rental records are handled (cascade delete, set null, etc.)

​
Best Practices

  1. Verify User Exists: Check that the user exists before attempting deletion
  2. Check for Active Rentals: Query the user’s borrowed books to ensure no active rentals
  3. Soft Delete Alternative: Consider implementing a soft delete (marking users as inactive) instead of hard deletion for better data integrity and audit trails
  4. Authorization: Ensure proper role-based access control is in place for delete operations

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us