forget()

Remove data with the unified v1.0 deletion API

cognee.forget()

async def forget(
    *,
    data_id: Optional[UUID] = None,
    dataset: Optional[Union[str, UUID]] = None,
    everything: bool = False,
    memory_only: bool = False,
    user=None,
) -> dict

Description

forget() is the unified deletion API in Cognee v1.0.

• Use it to remove a single data item from a dataset.
• Use it to delete an entire dataset.
• Use everything=True to remove all memory owned by the current user.
• Use memory_only=True to clear graph and vector memory while keeping raw dataset records so the content can be reprocessed.

For the full behavior walkthrough, see Forget.

Parameters

data_id · Optional[UUID] · default: "None"

Specific data item to remove. Requires dataset to also be set.

dataset · Optional[Union[str, UUID]] · default: "None"

Dataset name or UUID. When used alone, deletes the whole dataset. When paired with data_id, deletes only that item from the dataset.

everything · bool · default: "False"

Deletes all datasets and memory owned by the current user.

memory_only · bool · default: "False"

Deletes only graph and vector memory for the target dataset or data item while keeping underlying dataset records.

Deletion is driven by provenance, so it only reaches nodes recorded as belonging to the target dataset or data item. Nodes written by a custom pipeline whose payload is not a tracked data item — the code-graph pipeline, for instance, which takes a repository path — carry no provenance and are left in place. To clear those, use prune instead: code-graph ingestion skips a repository whose snapshot identity still matches the marker on its CodeRepository node, and only removing that node makes the next run reload every fact.

user · Any · default: "None"

Runs the operation under a specific user context instead of the default user.

Return value

forget() returns a summary dictionary. Depending on the mode, it includes fields like status, dataset_id, data_id, or datasets_removed.

Examples

import cognee

# Delete a dataset
await cognee.forget(dataset="product_docs")

# Delete only graph and vector memory so the dataset can be re-cognified
await cognee.forget(dataset="product_docs", memory_only=True)

Related

For lower-level data-management APIs, see datasets, delete(), and prune.