Delete Records

Phi provides two methods for deleting records:

• Delete
• DeleteMany

Note: Delete always returns the deleted record, regardless of the underlying database. On databases that support DELETE ... RETURNING, Phi performs the deletion in a single query. On databases that don't, Phi transparently executes the operation inside a transaction by fetching the record before deleting it, ensuring consistent behavior across all supported SQL dialects.

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Relation Deletion Behavior (`onDelete`)

Deletion behavior for foreign key relations is controlled by your schema.prisma @relation(onDelete: ...) rules:

model Post {
  id       String @id @default(cuid())
  authorId String
  author   User   @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id], onDelete: Cascade)
}

Phi translates @relation(onDelete: ...) rules into database foreign key constraints in DDL:

Prisma onDelete Action	SQL Foreign Key DDL Action	Database Behavior on Deleting Parent Record
Cascade	ON DELETE CASCADE	Child records referencing the parent are automatically deleted by the database engine.
Restrict	ON DELETE RESTRICT	Prevents deletion of the parent record if dependent child records exist.
NoAction	ON DELETE NO ACTION	Prevents deletion unless constraints are satisfied within the transaction.
SetNull	ON DELETE SET NULL	Sets foreign key columns on referencing child records to NULL.
SetDefault	ON DELETE SET DEFAULT	Resets foreign key columns on child records to their schema default values.

---

Delete

Deletes a single record.

The first predicate must uniquely identify a record (for example, Id.EQ() or another unique field). Additional predicates may be supplied to further constrain the deletion.

By default, all scalar fields are returned. Use Select or Omit to customize the returned data.

Basic

user, err := db.User.Delete(
    user.Email.EQ("x@y.com"),
).Exec(ctx)

With Additional Predicates

user, err := db.User.Delete(
    user.Email.EQ("x@y.com"),
    user.Bio.Contains("golang"),
).Exec(ctx)

Returning Selected Fields

user, err := db.User.Delete(
    user.Id.EQ(id),
).
    Select(user.Select{
        Id:       true,
        Username: true,
    }).
    Exec(ctx)

Omitting Fields

user, err := db.User.Delete(
    user.Id.EQ(id),
).
    Omit(user.Omit{
        Password: true,
    }).
    Exec(ctx)

Supported Builder Methods

Method	Description
Select	Return only the selected fields and relations.
Omit	Return all scalar fields except the omitted ones.

---

DeleteMany

Deletes all records matching the supplied predicates.

Unlike Delete, no unique predicate is required.

DeleteMany returns the number of rows deleted.

Basic

deleted, err := db.User.DeleteMany(
    user.Bio.Contains("inactive"),
).Exec(ctx)

Multiple Predicates

deleted, err := db.User.DeleteMany(
    user.Email.HasSuffix("@example.com"),
    user.LoginCount.LT(5),
).Exec(ctx)

Using Logical Predicates

deleted, err := db.User.DeleteMany(
    user.Or(
        user.Bio.Contains("spam"),
        user.PhoneNum.HasPrefix("+999"),
    ),
).Exec(ctx)

Return Value

deleted, err := db.User.DeleteMany(
    user.Bio.Contains("inactive"),
).Exec(ctx)

fmt.Printf("Deleted %d users\n", deleted)

Supported Builder Methods

DeleteMany exposes no additional builder methods beyond its predicates.

Note: DeleteMany only returns the number of deleted rows. If you need the deleted records themselves, query them before deleting.