---
title: "Delete a face detection"
method: DELETE
path: "/api/faces/{face_id}"
tags: ["faces"]
---

# Delete a face detection

`DELETE /api/faces/{face_id}`

Removes one face detection row; the underlying asset and the person this face was assigned to are both preserved.

**Use `update_face` with `person_id=null` instead** when the user wants to disassociate the face from a person without discarding the detection (so re-clustering can try again). Use `delete_person` to remove a person; use `trash_assets` to remove the photo entirely.

## Path parameters

- `face_id` string, required — Face ID (with `face_` prefix) of the face detection to delete.

## Query parameters

- `library_id` string, nullable — Library the face belongs to. Optional if the user has a single live (non-trashed) library; required when they have multiple.

## Response `200`

Successful Response

- DeletionResponse — Acknowledgment body returned by destructive endpoints (delete / trash / restore / permanently delete / remove-from-album / empty-trash). Carries no fields — the HTTP 200 + empty JSON object is itself the success signal. Exists so MCP tools generated from these endpoints have a real ``outputSchema`` (rather than the null schema FastMCP emits for 204 responses), which ChatGPT's MCP submission tooling requires.

## Other responses

- `401` — Missing, invalid, or expired credentials.
- `403` — The credentials are valid but not authorized for this operation — for example an API key whose action or library scope excludes it, or a credential type this operation does not accept.
- `404` — Not found
- `422` — Validation Error
- `429` — Rate limit exceeded. Retry after the interval in the `Retry-After` header.

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/gumnut-ai/apis/gumnut-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/gumnut-ai/apis/gumnut-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/gumnut-ai/gumnut-api/versions/e71db45f5d4a/schema)