# 1.3.20. `/{db}/_purge`

POST /{db}/_purge

  A database purge permanently removes the references to documents in the database. Normal deletion of a document within CouchDB does not remove the document from the database, instead, the document is marked as `_deleted=true` (and a new revision is created). This is to ensure that deleted documents can be replicated to other databases as having been deleted. This also means that you can check the status of a document and identify that the document has been deleted by its absence.

  The purge request must include the document IDs, and for each document ID, one or more revisions that must be purged. Documents can be previously deleted, but it is not necessary. Revisions must be leaf revisions.

  The response will contain a list of the document IDs and revisions successfully purged.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

    - Content-Type – application/json

  Request JSON Object:

    - object – Mapping of document ID to list of revisions to purge

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Response JSON Object:

    - purge_seq (string) – Purge sequence string

    - purged (object) – Mapping of document ID to list of purged revisions

  Status Codes:

    - 201 Created – Request completed successfully

    - 202 Accepted – Request was accepted, and was completed successfully on at least one replica, but quorum was not reached.

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid database name or JSON payload

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

    - 415 Unsupported Media Type – Bad Content-Type value

    - 500 Internal Server Error – Internal server error or timeout

  Request:

      POST /db/_purge HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Content-Length: 76
      Content-Type: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

      {
          "c6114c65e295552ab1019e2b046b10e": [
              "3-b06fcd1c1c9e0ec7c480ee8aa467bf3b",
              "3-c50a32451890a3f1c3e423334cc92745"
          ]
      }

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 201 Created
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 107
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2017 18:55:54 GMT
      Server: CouchDB/2.0.0-2ccd4bf (Erlang OTP/18)

      {
        "purge_seq": null,
        "purged": {
          "c6114c65e295552ab1019e2b046b10e": [
              "3-c50a32451890a3f1c3e423334cc92745"
            ]
        }
      }

Document Revision Tree 1

For example, given the above purge tree and issuing the above purge request, the whole document will be purged, as it contains only a single branch with a leaf revision 3-c50a32451890a3f1c3e423334cc92745 that will be purged. As a result of this purge operation, a document with _id:c6114c65e295552ab1019e2b046b10e will be completely removed from the database’s document b+tree, and sequence b+tree. It will not be available through `_all_docs` or `_changes` endpoints, as though this document never existed. Also as a result of purge operation, the database’s `purge_seq` and `update_seq` will be increased.

Notice, how revision 3-b06fcd1c1c9e0ec7c480ee8aa467bf3b was ignored. Revisions that have already been purged and non-leaf revisions are ignored in a purge request.

If a document has two conflict revisions with the following revision history:

Document Revision Tree 2

the above purge request will purge only one branch, leaving the document’s revision tree with only a single branch:

Document Revision Tree 3

As a result of this purge operation, a new updated version of the document will be available in `_all_docs` and `_changes`, creating a new record in `_changes`. The database’s `purge_seq` and `update_seq` will be increased.

Note

The _purge endpoint is restricted to admin users (since version 2.3.1)

## 1.3.20.1. Internal Replication

Purges are automatically replicated between replicas of the same database. Each database has an internal purge tree that stores a certain number of the most recent purges. This allows internal synchronization between replicas of the same database.

## 1.3.20.2. External Replication

Purge operations are not replicated to other external databases. External replication works by identifying a source’s document revisions that are missing on target, and copying these revisions from source to target. A purge operation completely purges revisions from a document’s purge tree making external replication of purges impossible.

> Note

> If you need a purge to be effective across multiple effective databases, you must run the purge separately on each of the databases.

## 1.3.20.3. Updating Indexes

The number of purges on a database is tracked using a purge sequence. This is used by the view indexer to optimize the updating of views that contain the purged documents.

Each internal database indexer, including the view indexer, keeps its own purge sequence. The purge sequence stored in the index can be much smaller than the database’s purge sequence up to the number of purge requests allowed to be stored in the purge trees of the database. Multiple purge requests can be processed by the indexer without incurring a rebuild of the index. The index will be updated according to these purge requests.

The index of documents is based on the winner of the revision tree. Depending on which revision is specified in the purge request, the index update observes the following behavior:

- If the winner of the revision tree is not specified in the purge request, there is no change to the index record of this document.

- If the winner of the revision tree is specified in the purge request, and there is still a revision left after purging, the index record of the document will be built according to the new winner of the revision tree.

- If all revisions of the document are specified in the purge request, the index record of the document will be deleted. The document will no longer be found in searches.

# 1.3.21. `/{db}/_purged_infos`

GET /{db}/_purged_infos

  Get a list of purged document IDs and revisions stored in the database.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid database name

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      GET /db/_purged_infos HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 75
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2023 20:56:06 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      {
        "purged_infos": [
          {
            "id": "doc_id",
            "revs": [
              "1-85cfcb946ba8fea03ba81ec38a7a9998",
              "2-c6548393a891f2cec9c7755832ff9d6f"
            ]
          }
        ]
      }

# 1.3.22. `/{db}/_purged_infos_limit`

GET /{db}/_purged_infos_limit

  Gets the current `purged_infos_limit` (purged documents limit) setting, the maximum number of historical purges (purged document Ids with their revisions) that can be stored in the database.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      GET /db/_purged_infos_limit HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 5
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:43:42 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      1000

PUT /{db}/_purged_infos_limit

  Sets the maximum number of purges (requested purged Ids with their revisions) that will be tracked in the database, even after compaction has occurred. You can set the purged documents limit on a database with a scalar integer of the limit that you want to set as the request body.

  The default value of historical stored purges is 1000. This means up to 1000 purges can be synchronized between replicas of the same databases in case of one of the replicas was down when purges occurred.

  This request sets the soft limit for stored purges. During the compaction CouchDB will try to keep only _purged_infos_limit of purges in the database, but occasionally the number of stored purges can exceed this value. If a database has not completed purge synchronization with active indexes or active internal replications, it may temporarily store a higher number of historical purges.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

    - Content-Type – application/json

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Response JSON Object:

    - ok (boolean) – Operation status

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid JSON data

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      PUT /db/_purged_infos_limit HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Content-Length: 4
      Content-Type: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

      1500

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 12
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:45:34 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      {
          "ok": true
      }

# 1.3.23. `/{db}/_missing_revs`

POST /{db}/_missing_revs

  With given a list of document revisions, returns the document revisions that do not exist in the database.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

    - Content-Type – application/json

  Request JSON Object:

    - object – Mapping of document ID to list of revisions to lookup

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Response JSON Object:

    - missing_revs (object) – Mapping of document ID to list of missed revisions

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid database name or JSON payload

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      POST /db/_missing_revs HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Content-Length: 76
      Content-Type: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

      {
          "c6114c65e295552ab1019e2b046b10e": [
              "3-b06fcd1c1c9e0ec7c480ee8aa467bf3b",
              "3-0e871ef78849b0c206091f1a7af6ec41"
          ]
      }

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 64
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 10:53:24 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      {
          "missing_revs":{
              "c6114c65e295552ab1019e2b046b10e": [
                  "3-b06fcd1c1c9e0ec7c480ee8aa467bf3b"
              ]
          }
      }

# 1.3.24. `/{db}/_revs_diff`

POST /{db}/_revs_diff

  Given a set of document/revision IDs, returns the subset of those that do not correspond to revisions stored in the database.

  Its primary use is by the replicator, as an important optimization: after receiving a set of new revision IDs from the source database, the replicator sends this set to the destination database’s `_revs_diff` to find out which of them already exist there. It can then avoid fetching and sending already-known document bodies.

  Both the request and response bodies are JSON objects whose keys are document IDs; but the values are structured differently:

  - In the request, a value is an array of revision IDs for that document.

  - In the response, a value is an object with a `missing`: key, whose value is a list of revision IDs for that document (the ones that are not stored in the database) and optionally a `possible_ancestors` key, whose value is an array of revision IDs that are known that might be ancestors of the missing revisions.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

    - Content-Type – application/json

  Request JSON Object:

    - object – Mapping of document ID to list of revisions to lookup

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Response JSON Object:

    - missing (array) – List of missed revisions for specified document

    - possible_ancestors (array) – List of revisions that may be ancestors for specified document and its current revision in requested database

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid database name or JSON payload

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      POST /db/_revs_diff HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Content-Length: 113
      Content-Type: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

      {
          "190f721ca3411be7aa9477db5f948bbb": [
              "3-bb72a7682290f94a985f7afac8b27137",
              "4-10265e5a26d807a3cfa459cf1a82ef2e",
              "5-067a00dff5e02add41819138abb3284d"
          ]
      }

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 88
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:56:02 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      {
          "190f721ca3411be7aa9477db5f948bbb": {
              "missing": [
                  "3-bb72a7682290f94a985f7afac8b27137",
                  "5-067a00dff5e02add41819138abb3284d"
              ],
              "possible_ancestors": [
                  "4-10265e5a26d807a3cfa459cf1a82ef2e"
              ]
          }
      }

# 1.3.25. `/{db}/_revs_limit`

GET /{db}/_revs_limit

  Gets the current `revs_limit` (revision limit) setting.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      GET /db/_revs_limit HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 5
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 17:27:30 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      1000

PUT /{db}/_revs_limit

  Sets the maximum number of document revisions that will be tracked by CouchDB, even after compaction has occurred. You can set the revision limit on a database with a scalar integer of the limit that you want to set as the request body.

  Parameters:

    - db – Database name

  Request Headers:

    - Accept –

      - application/json

      - text/plain

    - Content-Type – application/json

  Response Headers:

    - Content-Type –

      - application/json

      - text/plain; charset=utf-8

  Response JSON Object:

    - ok (boolean) – Operation status

  Status Codes:

    - 200 OK – Request completed successfully

    - 400 Bad Request – Invalid JSON data

    - 401 Unauthorized – Unauthorized request to a protected API

    - 403 Forbidden – Insufficient permissions / Too many requests with invalid credentials

  Request:

      PUT /db/_revs_limit HTTP/1.1
      Accept: application/json
      Content-Length: 5
      Content-Type: application/json
      Host: localhost:5984

      1000

  Response:

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Cache-Control: must-revalidate
      Content-Length: 12
      Content-Type: application/json
      Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 17:47:52 GMT
      Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

      {
          "ok": true
      }