---
title: "Cancel a dedicated number"
method: DELETE
path: "/v1/numbers/{number_id}"
tags: ["numbers"]
---

# Cancel a dedicated number

`DELETE /v1/numbers/{number_id}`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://us1.platform.bird.com`
- URL: `https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/numbers/{number_id}`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in cookie `bird_session`

Cancels one of your workspace's dedicated numbers at the end of its current billing period. The number is not charged for another period, keeps its current status until the period ends, and is then released. The `202` response returns the number with `releases_at` set to that time, and cancelling a number that is already scheduled returns the same schedule. A number with no subscription behind it, such as one allocated to you without a charge, is released immediately and answers `200` with the number as released. While a renewal payment for the number is overdue, the request answers `409` until it is paid. To release a number now, use `POST /v1/numbers/{number_id}/release`. Shared numbers belong to Bird-managed shared infrastructure and cannot be cancelled from your workspace.

## Path parameters

- `number_id` string, required: Identifier of a number allocated to your workspace, as returned in the id field of `GET /v1/numbers`.

## Headers

- `Idempotency-Key` string
- `X-Workspace-Id` string
- `X-Organization-Id` string

## Response `200`

The number had no subscription behind it and was released now. Its `status` is `released` and `released_at` is set.

- Number
  - `name` string, nullable, required: The name you gave this number in your workspace. Null when no name is set.
  - `reference` string, nullable, required: Your own reference for this number in your workspace. Null when no reference is set.
  - `id` string, required: Identifier of a number allocated to your workspace, as returned in the id field of `GET /v1/numbers`.
  - `kind` 'dedicated' | 'shared', required: How this number is allocated. `dedicated` belongs to your workspace and is billed as a subscription. `shared` is provided through Bird-managed shared infrastructure and is not owned or billed as a workspace subscription.
  - `number` string, required: Phone number in E.164 format.
  - `country_code` string, required: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.
  - `number_type` string, required: Physical type of a phone number. New number types may be added over time, so treat unrecognized values as supported types rather than errors.
  - `capabilities` NumberCapability[], required: Capabilities supported by this number.
  - `status` 'active' | 'pending_ownership_registration' | 'released', required: The allocation and ownership-approval status of this number. - `active` means this number is allocated to your workspace and usable. - `pending_ownership_registration` means this number is allocated to your workspace and billed, but outbound SMS and both inbound and outbound voice calls are blocked until ownership registration is approved and activation completes, or the ownership requirement is withdrawn. This ownership status does not gate inbound SMS or WhatsApp. Read `ownership.status` and `ownership.next` for the current decision and remaining work. - `released` means this number is no longer allocated to your workspace. An allocated number is not always enough to send from it: some destination countries also require an approved registration for the sender.
  - `allocated_at` string, date-time, required: When this number was allocated to your workspace.
  - `releases_at` string, date-time, nullable, required: When a scheduled release of this number takes effect, at the end of its current billing period. The number stays allocated, with its current `status`, until then. `null` when no release is scheduled.
  - `released_at` string, date-time, nullable, required: When this number was released. `null` while it is still allocated to your workspace.
  - `ownership` NumberOwnership: Ownership paperwork and registration approval progress for this number. Reported when ownership requirements or a recorded ownership block or decision apply. If requirements or progress cannot be read, a recorded block or decision preserves this object; without either, the object is absent. Other sending requirements can apply even when ownership is approved.
    - `submission_id` string
    - `satisfied` boolean, required: Whether the ownership paperwork is accepted or is no longer required. This can remain true while an external verifier asks for a correction or activation is pending. Read `status` and `next` for the current step, and `blocked_at` for the ownership block on outbound SMS and inbound and outbound voice.
    - `status` 'needs_input' | 'under_review' | 'approval_pending' | 'approved' | 'not_required' | 'rejected' | 'unknown', required: Current ownership registration approval status. Operational activation is separate: `blocked_at` records the ownership block on number use, and `next` describes remaining work. - `needs_input` means ownership details or a submission correction are needed. - `under_review` means your current answers are being reviewed. - `approval_pending` means your paperwork is accepted but registration approval is still pending. - `approved` means ownership registration is approved. Number activation can still be pending while `blocked_at` is non-null. - `not_required` means no active ownership requirement applies, including after a requirement is withdrawn. - `rejected` means the submission was closed or the verifier correction deadline passed. Corrections are no longer accepted for this submission. - `unknown` means current approval status could not be determined. Read `blocked_at` for any recorded ownership block. Retry the read.
    - `blocked_at` string, date-time, nullable: When ownership requirements began blocking outbound SMS and inbound and outbound voice calls. Null when that block is clear. Accepted paperwork can still await activation with a block in place. A number bought before ownership requirements were introduced can have outstanding paperwork without a block.
    - `next` NextAction[], required: Actions that advance ownership registration or activation, in order. Empty when neither needs further action. A `wait` step means no customer action is needed now, including while accepted paperwork awaits activation. Read this list again after each change.
      - `kind` string, required: What you do about this step. - `operation`: call the operation named in `operation`, then read again. - `external`: act somewhere this API does not reach, then read again. - `wait`: nothing is asked of you, so read again later. - `terminal`: nothing you do resolves this, so stop retrying. Tolerate a value you do not recognize: show the `description` and offer no action.
      - `description` string, required: A short, human-readable label for the step, suitable for display.
      - `operation` string: The operationId to call. Present only when `kind` is `operation`. The operation's own schema says how to call it; this says only which one, and what to address it with.
      - `params` object: The parameters that address the operation, by name: `{"sender_id": "…"}` for an operation on `/v1/sms/senders/{sender_id}/requirements`. A parameter the operation takes in its query string is given the same way, so an operation addressed as `?subject_id=` carries `{"subject_id": "…"}`. Every parameter the call needs is here, whether its value came from the thing you were acting on or is fixed for this step, so you can make the call from this object alone. Present only when `kind` is `operation` and the operation names a subject. A request body, when the operation takes one, is described by the operation's own schema and never appears here.
      - `url` string, uri: A URL to open. Present only when `kind` is `external`, and only when the step has one. An external step whose `description` says to go and do something with no URL to open is normal.
  - `pricing` NumberPricing, required: What your organization pays for a number it holds, net of tax.
    - `recurring_price` Money, required
      - `amount` string, required: Decimal amount as a string, in major currency units.
      - `currency_code` string, required: ISO 4217 three-letter currency code.
    - `recurring_period` BillingPricingInterval, required: A period: a unit and a count. A day is a fixed 24-hour UTC period. A larger `count` lengthens the period without multiplying the amount quoted for it.
      - `unit` 'day' | 'month' | 'year', required: The recurring interval one subscription charge covers.
      - `count` integer, required: Number of units in the period.
    - `intervals_per_charge` integer, nullable, required: How many `recurring_period`s one renewal charges. When `releases_at` is set no renewal follows, and the value still describes the subscription's cadence until the release. `1` for a fixed price. `null` when `recurring_price` is `null`.
    - `error` ErrorBody, required
      - `type` 'auth_error' | 'bad_request_error' | 'billing_error' | 'client_closed_request_error' | 'conflict_error' | 'gone_error' | 'internal_error' | 'misdirected_error' | 'not_found_error' | 'not_implemented_error' | 'payload_too_large_error' | 'permission_error' | 'precondition_error' | 'rate_limit_error' | 'service_unavailable_error' | 'too_early_error' | 'validation_error', required: Broad category for coarse client branching.
      - `code` string, required: Opaque, stable, unique error identifier. Never reused.
      - `name` string, required: Human-readable slug for log readability. Paired with code, never replaces it.
      - `message` string, required: Human-readable description. Not stable; clients must not parse it.
      - `param` string: Identifies the offending field. Omitted when not applicable.
      - `doc_url` string, uri, required: Stable link to the docs page for this error code.
      - `request_id` string, required: Request correlation ID for support and troubleshooting. Also returned in the `X-Request-Id` response header.
      - `vendor_code` string: Verbatim error code from an external system, such as an SMTP response code or a payment decline code. Present only when the code may help you resolve the error.
      - `details` ErrorDetail[]: Per-field validation errors. Present only on validation_error responses.
        - `param` string, required: Dotted field path, such as `to[0].email`, `subject`, or `.`. When the request was rejected for a query parameter the endpoint does not declare, this carries that parameter's name instead of a field path.
        - `message` string, required: What is wrong with this field.
      - `remediation` string: A human-readable next step to resolve this error. Present when a recovery is known.
      - `next` NextAction[]: The steps that resolve this error. Perform them in order, re-reading after each; a `wait` or `terminal` step is always last. Present for errors with a well-defined recovery, such as unmet preconditions and conflicts.
        - `kind` string, required: What you do about this step. - `operation`: call the operation named in `operation`, then read again. - `external`: act somewhere this API does not reach, then read again. - `wait`: nothing is asked of you, so read again later. - `terminal`: nothing you do resolves this, so stop retrying. Tolerate a value you do not recognize: show the `description` and offer no action.
        - `description` string, required: A short, human-readable label for the step, suitable for display.
        - `operation` string: The operationId to call. Present only when `kind` is `operation`. The operation's own schema says how to call it; this says only which one, and what to address it with.
        - `params` object: The parameters that address the operation, by name: `{"sender_id": "…"}` for an operation on `/v1/sms/senders/{sender_id}/requirements`. A parameter the operation takes in its query string is given the same way, so an operation addressed as `?subject_id=` carries `{"subject_id": "…"}`. Every parameter the call needs is here, whether its value came from the thing you were acting on or is fixed for this step, so you can make the call from this object alone. Present only when `kind` is `operation` and the operation names a subject. A request body, when the operation takes one, is described by the operation's own schema and never appears here.
        - `url` string, uri: A URL to open. Present only when `kind` is `external`, and only when the step has one. An external step whose `description` says to go and do something with no URL to open is normal.

## Other responses

- `202`: Cancellation scheduled. The number stays allocated, with its current status, until `releases_at`.
- `400`: Bad request
- `401`: Authentication required
- `403`: Insufficient permissions
- `404`: Resource not found
- `409`: Resource conflict
- `422`: The request has invalid field values, violates a business rule, or carries a query parameter the endpoint does not declare. Field validation errors use `type: validation_error` and include the affected fields in `details`. Business-rule errors identify the failed rule in `type`.
- `429`: Rate limit exceeded
- `500`: Internal server error
- `503`: The service is temporarily unavailable. If `Retry-After` is present, wait for that delay before retrying; otherwise, retry with exponential backoff. Reuse the same idempotency key and request when retrying a mutation.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api/revisions/6dfce1179799?raw)