---
title: "Delete a span by span_identifier"
method: DELETE
path: "/v1/spans/{span_identifier}"
tags: ["spans"]
---

# Delete a span by span_identifier

`DELETE /v1/spans/{span_identifier}`

Delete a single span by identifier.

        **Important**: This operation deletes ONLY the specified span itself and does NOT
        delete its descendants/children. All child spans will remain in the trace and
        become orphaned (their parent_id will point to a non-existent span).

        Behavior:
        - Deletes only the target span (preserves all descendant spans)
        - If this was the last span in the trace, the trace record is also deleted
        - If the deleted span had a parent, its cumulative metrics (error count, token counts)
          are subtracted from all ancestor spans in the chain

        **Note**: This operation is irreversible and may create orphaned spans.

## Path parameters

- `span_identifier` string, required — The span identifier: either a relay GlobalID or OpenTelemetry span_id

## Response `204`

Successful Response

## Other responses

- `403` — Forbidden
- `404` — Not Found
- `422` — Validation Error

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/arize-ai/apis/arize-phoenix-rest-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/arize-ai/apis/arize-phoenix-rest-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/arize-ai/arize-phoenix-rest-api/versions/5339b2afd3a2/schema)