Skip to main content
Adist provides multiple commands for removing indexes and projects at different levels.

​
Commands

​
remove-index

Remove only the search index for a project, keeping the project definition.

​
Syntax

adist remove-index <projectName>

​
Arguments

​
projectName
string
required
Name of the project whose index should be removed.

​
Behavior

  • Removes file indexes (both legacy and block-based)
  • Marks project as not indexed
  • Keeps project definition and metadata
  • Preserves summaries

​
Example

adist remove-index my-project
Output: 
🗑️ Removing index: my-project

✓ Index removed successfully!
Run adist reindex my-project to rebuild the index.

​
Use Cases

  • Corrupted index needs rebuilding
  • Switching from legacy to block-based indexing
  • Clearing stale index data
  • Freeing up disk space temporarily

​
remove-project

Completely remove a project including its index, summaries, and metadata.

​
Syntax

adist remove-project <projectName>

​
Arguments

​
projectName
string
required
Name of the project to remove completely.

​
Behavior

  • Removes project definition
  • Removes all indexes
  • Removes all summaries
  • Removes all project metadata
  • If current project, switches to another project or unsets

​
Example

adist remove-project old-project
Output: 
🗑️ Removing project: old-project
Location: /home/user/projects/old-project

✓ Project removed successfully!

​
Current Project Handling

If removing the current project: 
adist remove-project my-project
Output: 
🗑️ Removing project: my-project
Location: /home/user/projects/my-project
Current project changed to: another-project

✓ Project removed successfully!
Or if no projects remain: 
No projects remain. Current project unset.

​
Use Cases

  • Removing deleted projects from adist
  • Cleaning up old projects
  • Starting fresh with a project
  • Freeing disk space

​
remove-project-id

Remove a project by its ID rather than name. Useful for troubleshooting corrupted projects.

​
Syntax

adist remove-project-id <projectId>

​
Arguments

​
projectId
string
required
Unique ID of the project to remove. Get IDs from adist list --debug or adist paths.

​
Behavior

  • Same as remove-project but uses ID instead of name
  • Useful when project name is corrupted or inaccessible
  • Shows project name if available
  • Removes all project data

​
Example

adist list --debug
# Note the project ID

adist remove-project-id 1234567890123
Output: 
🗑️ Removing project by ID: 1234567890123
Name: my-project
Path: /home/user/projects/my-project

✓ Project removed successfully!

​
Use Cases

  • Corrupted project with invalid name
  • Duplicate projects with same name
  • Troubleshooting configuration issues
  • Advanced cleanup operations

​
Comparison

CommandRemoves IndexRemoves ProjectRemoves SummariesIdentifier
remove-index✓✗✗Name
remove-project✓✓✓Name
remove-project-id✓✓✓ID

​
Safety

​
What Gets Deleted

  • Project metadata in adist config
  • Search indexes
  • AI-generated summaries

​
What Stays Safe

  • Actual project files and source code
  • Git repositories
  • Any files in the project directory
Note: These commands only remove adist’s internal data, never your actual code.

​
Recommendations

​
Use remove-index when:

  • Index seems corrupted
  • Switching indexing methods
  • Want to reindex from scratch

​
Use remove-project when:

  • Project directory was deleted
  • No longer need to search this project
  • Clean up old projects

​
Use remove-project-id when:

  • Normal removal fails
  • Project data is corrupted
  • Dealing with edge cases

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us