---
title: "Deactivate a registered external user"
method: DELETE
path: "/external-users/{user}"
tags: ["External Users"]
---

# Deactivate a registered external user

`DELETE /external-users/{user}`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1`
- URL: `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/external-users/{user}`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Soft-deactivate a registration while retaining its tracking ID. Repeat deactivation succeeds. This does not block inference; reactivate through PATCH. [Management key](/docs/guides/overview/auth/management-api-keys) required.

## Path parameters

- `user` string, required: Immutable case-sensitive tracking string supplied as user on inference requests or as external.user on API keys: 1 to 512 characters, well-formed Unicode, no NUL, no surrounding whitespace. URL-encode it in resource paths; an ID of `.` or `..` cannot be addressed by path, so look it up with the list filter.

## Response `204`

Registration is inactive.

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad Request - Invalid request parameters or malformed input
- `401`: Unauthorized - Authentication required or invalid credentials
- `404`: Not Found - Resource does not exist
- `500`: Internal Server Error - Unexpected server error

## Changes

- **2026-10-21** `e51bb1f02f3e`: 1 info
  - endpoint added

[Operation history](https://skmtc.dev/openrouterteam/apis/openrouter-api/changes/external-users/:user/delete.md)

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/openrouterteam/apis/openrouter-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/openrouterteam/apis/openrouter-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/openrouterteam/apis/openrouter-api/revisions/d6f0173bb1c8?raw)