Description
Remove experiments from your DVC project. This command deletes experiment references and associated data, helping you clean up unsuccessful experiments or maintain a tidy experiment history. You can remove individual experiments, all experiments from specific commits, or queued experiments.
This operation is irreversible. Removed experiments cannot be recovered. Review your selection carefully before removing experiments.
Usage
dvc exp remove [<experiment>...] [options]
dvc exp rm
Arguments
One or more experiment names to remove. Can specify multiple experiments separated by spaces.dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c
dvc exp remove exp-123 exp-456 exp-789
Options
Selection Options
Remove all experiments from the specified Git revisions. Can be used multiple times.dvc exp remove --rev HEAD
dvc exp remove --rev main --rev feature-branch
Remove experiments from all Git commits.dvc exp remove --all-commits
Remove experiments from the last N commits. Used with --rev or --all-commits. Remove all queued experiments (experiments staged with dvc exp run --queue but not yet executed). Keep the N most recent experiments and remove the rest. Must be used with --rev or --all-commits.dvc exp remove --all-commits --keep 10
Name or URL of the Git remote to remove the experiment from. This removes experiments from a remote repository.dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c --git-remote origin
dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c --git-remote https://github.com/user/repo.git
Examples
Remove a single experiment
Output:
Removed experiments: 'exp-a1b2c'
Removing an experiment deletes its reference and cached data, but doesn’t affect any Git branches created from it.
Remove multiple experiments
dvc exp remove exp-123 exp-456 exp-789
Removed experiments: 'exp-123', 'exp-456', 'exp-789'
Remove all experiments from current commit
dvc exp remove --rev HEAD
Removed experiments: 'exp-a1b2c', 'exp-d3e4f', 'exp-g7h8i'
This is useful for cleaning up after a hyperparameter sweep on the current commit.
Remove all queued experiments
# Queue some experiments
dvc exp run --queue -S lr=0.1
dvc exp run --queue -S lr=0.01
dvc exp run --queue -S lr=0.001
# Remove all queued experiments
dvc exp remove --queue
Removed experiments: 'exp-queued-1', 'exp-queued-2', 'exp-queued-3'
This only removes queued experiments that haven’t been executed yet.
Remove experiments from multiple branches
dvc exp remove --rev main --rev feature-branch
Removed experiments: 'exp-main-1', 'exp-main-2', 'exp-feature-1', 'exp-feature-2'
Keep only recent experiments
# Keep 5 most recent experiments, remove all others
dvc exp remove --all-commits --keep 5
Removed experiments: 'exp-old-1', 'exp-old-2', 'exp-old-3', ...
Use --keep to maintain a fixed number of experiments for reference while cleaning up older ones.
Remove from last N commits
# Remove experiments from last 3 commits
dvc exp remove --num 3
Removed experiments: 'exp-1', 'exp-2', 'exp-3', 'exp-4', 'exp-5'
Remove all experiments
dvc exp remove --all-commits
Removed experiments: 'exp-1', 'exp-2', ..., 'exp-99', 'exp-100'
This removes ALL experiments from your project. Use with extreme caution!
Remove from remote repository
dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c --git-remote origin
Removed experiments: 'exp-a1b2c' from remote 'origin'
This removes the experiment from the remote Git repository, not just your local copy.
Common Workflows
Clean up failed experiments
# View all experiments including failed ones
dvc exp show
# Remove failed experiments one by one
dvc exp remove exp-failed-1 exp-failed-2 exp-failed-3
Maintain experiment history limit
# Periodically clean up, keeping only last 20 experiments
dvc exp remove --all-commits --keep 20
Cancel queued experiments
# Queue multiple experiments
for lr in 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 0.00001; do
dvc exp run --queue -S train.lr=$lr
done
# Decided not to run them
dvc exp remove --queue
Clean up before archiving
# Before archiving project, remove all experiments
# (keep only promoted branches)
dvc exp remove --all-commits
# Archive repository
git archive --format=zip --output=project-archive.zip HEAD
# Find best experiment
dvc exp show --sort-by accuracy --sort-order desc
# Promote it to a branch
dvc exp branch exp-best model/production
# Remove the temporary experiment
dvc exp remove exp-best
# The branch persists even though experiment is removed
git branch
Removing an experiment doesn’t affect Git branches created from it using dvc exp branch.
Understanding Removal Scope
What Gets Removed
- Experiment references: Entries in DVC’s experiment database
- Cached data: Model outputs and artifacts unique to the experiment
- Metrics history: Historical metrics recorded for the experiment
- Parameter snapshots: Parameter values used in the experiment
What Doesn’t Get Removed
- Git branches: Branches created via
dvc exp branch remain intact
- Shared cache: Data shared with other experiments or commits
- Git commits: Regular Git commits are unaffected
- Current workspace: Your working directory remains unchanged
DVC uses reference counting for cached data. Removing an experiment only deletes data that’s not referenced by other experiments or commits.
Validation and Safety
Confirm before removal
# List experiments that would be removed
dvc exp show --rev HEAD
# Then remove
dvc exp remove --rev HEAD
Remove with filtering
# View all experiments
dvc exp show
# Remove only specific failed ones
dvc exp show | grep "!" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs dvc exp remove
Backup before bulk removal
# Export experiments to JSON before removing
dvc exp show --json > experiments-backup.json
# Now safe to remove
dvc exp remove --all-commits --keep 10
# Can review backup if needed
cat experiments-backup.json | jq
Troubleshooting
No experiments to remove
dvc exp remove --rev HEAD
No experiments to remove.
This means there are no experiments associated with the specified revision.
Experiment not found
dvc exp remove nonexistent-exp
ERROR: experiment 'nonexistent-exp' not found
# List available experiments
dvc exp show
# Use correct experiment name
dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c
Cannot remove from remote
dvc exp remove exp-a1b2c --git-remote origin
ERROR: permission denied when removing from remote 'origin'
Removing experiments from a remote requires write access to the remote repository.
dvc exp show - View experiments before removingdvc exp run - Create new experimentsdvc exp branch - Convert experiment to permanent branch before removingdvc gc - Clean up unused cache data (after removing experiments)
