# Delete category

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🔨 In Development
 — This section is still being developed and may change.


Permanently delete a custom rule category from your organization. This action cannot be undone and will affect how rules in this category are displayed and filtered.

Remove a category from your organization. Categories can only be deleted if they contain no active rules. Default system categories cannot be deleted.

#### Path Parameters

**`organizationId`** string required

The organization identifier that owns the category.

**`category_id`** string required

The unique identifier of the category to delete. This is the `name` field from the category object.

## Returns

A [DeleteRuleResponse](#deleteruleresponse) object containing the API response data.

Delete custom category

```bash
curl -X DELETE "https://api.freddy.aitronos.com/v1/organizations/org_123/rules/categories/brand_voice" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FREDDY_API_KEY"
```


```python
import requests

organization_id = "org_123"
category_id = "brand_voice"

response = requests.delete(
  f"https://api.freddy.aitronos.com/v1/organizations/{organization_id}/rules/categories/{category_id}",
  headers={
      "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"
  }
)

if response.status_code == 200:
  deleted_category = response.json()
  print(f"Category deleted: {deleted_category['name']}")
elif response.status_code == 204:
  print("Category deleted successfully")
else:
  print(f"Error: {response.status_code}")
```


```javascript
const organizationId = 'org_123';
const categoryId = 'brand_voice';

const response = await fetch(`https://api.freddy.aitronos.com/v1/organizations/${organizationId}/rules/categories/${categoryId}`, {
method: 'DELETE',
headers: {
  'Authorization': `Bearer ${apiKey}`
}
});

if (response.ok) {
const deletedCategory = await response.json();
console.log('Category deleted successfully');
console.log(`Deleted category: ${deletedCategory.name}`);
} else {
console.error(`Error: ${response.status}`);
}
```

Error handling

```bash
# Attempting to delete a category with active rules
curl -X DELETE "https://api.freddy.aitronos.com/v1/organizations/org_123/rules/categories/compliance" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FREDDY_API_KEY"
```


```python
import requests

organization_id = "org_123"
category_id = "compliance"  # Category with active rules

response = requests.delete(
  f"https://api.freddy.aitronos.com/v1/organizations/{organization_id}/rules/categories/{category_id}",
  headers={
      "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"
  }
)

if response.status_code == 409:
  error = response.json()
  print(f"Cannot delete category: {error['error']['message']}")
elif response.status_code == 404:
  print("Category not found")
```

## Response

200 OK
Returns the deleted category object.


```json
{
  "id": "cat_brand_voice_001",
  "name": "brand_voice",
  "display_name": "Brand Voice & Tone",
  "description": "Guidelines for maintaining consistent brand voice and communication style",
  "priority_range": "70-89",
  "recommended_limit": 4000,
  "rule_count": 0,
  "is_default": false,
  "is_active": false,
  "organization_id": "org_xyz789",
  "deleted_at": "2024-10-30T17:00:00Z",
  "deleted_by": "user_123",
  "created_by": "user_123",
  "created_at": "2024-10-04T12:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-10-04T12:00:00Z",
  "metadata": {
    "department": "marketing"
  }
}
```

204 No Content
Empty response indicating successful deletion.

Errors

```json
{
"error": {
  "type": "invalid_request_error",
  "message": "No category found with the specified ID",
  "code": "resource_not_found",
  "param": "category_id"
}
}
```


```json
{
"error": {
  "type": "invalid_request_error",
  "message": "Cannot delete category 'compliance' because it contains 12 active rules. Move or delete all rules in this category first.",
  "code": "category_in_use",
  "param": "category_id"
}
}
```


```json
{
"error": {
  "type": "permission_error",
  "message": "Cannot delete system default categories",
  "code": "cannot_delete_default_category"
}
}
```


```json
{
"error": {
  "type": "permission_error",
  "message": "You do not have permission to delete organization categories",
  "code": "insufficient_permissions"
}
}
```

### Important Notes

- **Irreversible**: Once deleted, categories cannot be recovered. Consider archiving important categories instead.
- **Active Rules**: Categories containing active rules cannot be deleted. Move rules to other categories or delete them first.
- **System Categories**: Default system categories (`safety`, `professional`, `creative`, `technical`, `formatting`, `compliance`) cannot be deleted.
- **Permissions**: Organization and team categories require appropriate permissions. User categories can be deleted by their creator.
- **Audit Trail**: All deletions are logged in the audit log with user attribution.