Delete protection

Delete protection stops a keyspace, project, or app from being deleted by accident. While it’s on, nobody can delete that resource from the dashboard or the API. To delete it, you first turn protection off, which is logged in the audit log, and then delete it.

What you can protect

Protection is off until you turn it on. The one exception is the Default project we create for your workspace, which starts protected.

Resource	Product	Where to turn it on
Keyspace (API)	API Management	Dashboard: the keyspace’s Settings page.
Project	Compute	API or CLI: `deleteProtection` on `projects.updateProject`.
App	Compute	API or CLI: `deleteProtection` on `apps.updateApp`.

Protect a keyspace

Open the keyspace settings

In the dashboard, open the keyspace and go to its Settings page. The Delete Protection card shows Enabled or Disabled.

Keyspace settings page with the name, API ID, keyspace ID, key defaults, and a Danger Zone holding the Delete Protection card and the Delete Keyspace button

Toggle and confirm

Click Enable (or Disable), type the keyspace name to confirm, and submit. The audit log records the change as api.update.

Protect an app or project

Use the CLI or the API with a root key that has update_app or update_project.

unkey api apps update-app --project=payments --app=payments-api --delete-protection

curl -X POST https://api.unkey.com/v2/apps.updateApp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <root key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"project": "payments", "app": "payments-api", "deleteProtection": true}'

For a project, use unkey api projects update-project --delete-protection or projects.updateProject. To turn it off, pass --delete-protection=false or "deleteProtection": false. If you leave the field out, the current value stays, so an update that only renames the resource doesn’t clear protection. apps.getApp, projects.getProject, and the list endpoints return the current flag.

When you try to delete a protected resource

In the dashboard, the Delete action on a protected keyspace refuses with “This API has delete protection enabled. Please disable it before deleting the API.” In the API, apis.deleteApi, apps.deleteApp, and projects.deleteProject return HTTP 412 with the code err:unkey:application:protected_resource. The detail names the resource type: “This API has delete protection enabled”, “This app has delete protection enabled”, or “This project has delete protection enabled”.

{
  "meta": { "requestId": "req_..." },
  "error": {
    "title": "Resource is protected",
    "type": "/errors/unkey/application/protected_resource",
    "detail": "This API has delete protection enabled. Disable it before attempting to delete.",
    "status": 412
  }
}

To fix it, turn protection off on that resource, then delete it again. See the error page.

Get started

Workspace

Billing

Root keys

API

CLI

AI coding

Security

Errors

What you can protect

Protect a keyspace

Open the keyspace settings

Toggle and confirm

Protect an app or project

When you try to delete a protected resource

​What you can protect

​Protect a keyspace

Open the keyspace settings

Toggle and confirm

​Protect an app or project

​When you try to delete a protected resource

What you can protect

Protect a keyspace

Protect an app or project

When you try to delete a protected resource