---
title: "Retire a repository"
method: DELETE
path: "/api/repos/{owner}/{repo}/"
tags: ["Repositories"]
---

# Retire a repository

`DELETE /api/repos/{owner}/{repo}/`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://git.cafe`
- URL: `https://git.cafe/api/repos/{owner}/{repo}/`
- Auth: one of:
  - API key in cookie `gc-session`
  - HTTP bearer
  - HTTP basic
  - HTTP token
  - OAuth 2
    - Authorization code: `/api/oauth/authorize`
    - Token URL: `/api/oauth/token` scopes: `repo:administration:admin`

Records repository retirement and returns its durable status. repoId and expectedVersion fence stale requests; 202 does not mean native data is already absent. Requires authenticated authority and enforces current resource policy.

## Path parameters

- `owner` string, required
- `repo` string, required

## Request body

- object
  - `repoId` string, required
  - `expectedVersion` integer, required

## Response `202`

Response for status 202

- object
  - `repoId` string, required
  - `state` 'retained' | 'absent', required
  - `reason` 'owner-delete' | 'collaborator-revoked' | 'org-member-revoked' | 'org-member-role-changed' | 'team-member-revoked', required
  - `failureCode` 'native-retirement-unavailable' | 'null', nullable, required
  - `createdAt` string, date-time, required
  - `completedAt` string, date-time, nullable, required

## Other responses

- `400`: The request is invalid.
- `401`: Authentication is required, or the supplied credential is invalid.
- `403`: The credential does not permit this operation. A `code`, when present, names the refusal.
- `404`: The resource does not exist or is not visible to the caller.
- `409`: The request conflicts with the current state. A `code`, when present, names the refusal; `retryable` says whether the same request can succeed later, and `operationId` names the operation in the way.
- `429`: A rate limit is exhausted. Wait Retry-After seconds; the value is a hint, so back off on a repeat 429.
- `503`: A required service is temporarily unavailable; retry later.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/gitcafe/apis/git-cafe-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/gitcafe/apis/git-cafe-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/gitcafe/apis/git-cafe-api/revisions/9fa233d2986d?raw)