Delete old items in a Push source

This is for:

Developer System Administrator

You can perform a single Push API request to delete all of the items in a Push source that were last updated with a Push API request whose orderingId value is lower than a specified value (see About the orderingId parameter).

This article provides an overview of the Delete old items request.

Sequence diagram showing Delete Old Items Push API request in the Coveo indexing pipeline | Coveo
Sequence diagram illustrating the handling of a Delete old items Push API request (highlighted) as it progresses through the Coveo indexing pipeline.

Request template

US East region 
DELETE https://api.cloud.coveo.com/push/v1/organizations/<MyOrganizationId>/sources/<MySourceId>/documents/olderthan?orderingId=<MyOrderingId>&queueDelay=<MyQueueDelay> HTTP/1.1
​
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <MyAccessToken>
Canada region 
DELETE https://api-ca.cloud.coveo.com/push/v1/organizations/<MyOrganizationId>/sources/<MySourceId>/documents/olderthan?orderingId=<MyOrderingId>&queueDelay=<MyQueueDelay> HTTP/1.1
​
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <MyAccessToken>
Ireland region 
DELETE https://api-eu.cloud.coveo.com/push/v1/organizations/<MyOrganizationId>/sources/<MySourceId>/documents/olderthan?orderingId=<MyOrderingId>&queueDelay=<MyQueueDelay> HTTP/1.1
​
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <MyAccessToken>
Australia region 
DELETE https://api-au.cloud.coveo.com/push/v1/organizations/<MyOrganizationId>/sources/<MySourceId>/documents/olderthan?orderingId=<MyOrderingId>&queueDelay=<MyQueueDelay> HTTP/1.1
​
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <MyAccessToken>

Request parameters:

Parameters

In the request path:

In the query string:

  • Replace <MyOrderingId> with the orderingId value you want to use. Any item that was pushed by a request whose orderingId is lower ("older") than this value will be deleted from the target Push source (see About the orderingId parameter).

    Important

    Unless you’re setting your own orderingId values when pushing items, you should typically set the orderingId of a Delete old items request to the current number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch, without any offset.

    For example, let’s say you’re letting the Push API set its own orderingId values when you push content updates to your source. This means that each content update request you perform on that source has its orderingId automatically set to the current number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch, which is UTC-based.

    When performing a Delete old items request on that source, you retrieve the current Unix timestamp, but then mistakenly adjust it to Central European Standard Time (that is, UTC+1) before setting it as the orderingId value. As a result, the indexing pipeline will reject new pushed items for an hour after you perform the request.

  • Optionally, replace <MyQueueDelay> with the number of minutes you want the Push API to wait before enqueueing the Delete old items operation in the indexing pipeline.

    The default queueDelay value is 15 (minutes).

    This grace period is intended to give the indexing pipeline enough time to finish processing any previously enqueued operations that would affect the target Push source.

    Performing a Delete old items request with a low queueDelay value may have unexpected results (that is, some items you expect to be deleted could be added back into the target Push source after the request is processed).

In the Authorization HTTP header:

Request body:

{}

Successful response: 202 Accepted

null

A successful response (202 Accepted) has no content, but it indicates that the operation was forwarded to the service. It will be enqueued to be processed by the indexing pipeline when the specified (or default) queueDelay has elapsed. This doesn’t imply that the items were successfully deleted in the target Push source. See About the Push API processing delay for details.

Tip
Leading practice: Update the status of your Push source

If you set your Push source to an active status before, and you have no further requests to perform as part of this content update, you should consider setting it back to the IDLE status (see Updating the status of a Push source).

Sample request

The following example shows how to delete all items older than a specified orderingId value.

DELETE https://api.cloud.coveo.com/push/v1/organizations/mycoveocloudv2organizationg8tp8wu3/sources/mycoveocloudv2organization-rp5rxzbdz753uhndklv2ztkfgy/documents/olderthan?orderingId=1509711177594&queueDelay=1 HTTP/1.1

Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer **********-****-****-****-************

Request body:

{}