# Delete Approval Policy

`DELETE /base/approval-policies/{id}`

Group: Base › Approval Policies · Operation ID: `deleteApprovalPolicy`

Deletes an approval policy and everything on it. Refuses a policy that documents already in approval still reference.

The response is empty. Capture the policyHeaderNumber from a GET first if you need it for a record. Deactivating is almost always the better choice: set the policy to status 'inActive' with PATCH base/approval-policies/:id, and documents already in the workflow keep approving against it while the audit trail stays intact. Delete is for a policy created in error. A policy that documents still reference cannot be deleted. If any approve or reject decision was recorded under it, or any document froze a snapshot of it when it entered approval, the call fails with POLICY_IN_USE. Deleting an id that does not exist fails with NOT_FOUND.

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/?op=deleteApprovalPolicy)

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | `"v1"` | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |
| `Idempotency-Key` | header | string | no | An opaque caller-chosen string (1-255 characters) that makes this request safe to retry. Repeating the same key with an identical request body replays the original response instead of re-executing - but only once that original request succeeded; a failed attempt re-executes on retry. Repeating the key with a different body is answered with 422. A key still in flight is answered with 409 - as is a key whose original request was interrupted before it finished, for a few minutes afterwards, until that attempt is presumed dead. A completed response stays replayable for 24 hours. The key is scoped to the caller, not to the action: reusing it for a different action is answered with 409 or 422 rather than treated independently. On read actions this header is ignored. On write actions that cannot offer the guarantee it is answered with `400 IDEMPOTENCY_NOT_SUPPORTED` rather than silently ignored. |
| `id` | path | string | yes | The unique identifier for the approval policy to delete. |

## Response

`200` Success

## Response headers

- `Idempotency-Replayed` — Present and `true` only when this response replays a previously stored one for the same Idempotency-Key, rather than reflecting a live execution. Absent on a live response - never sent as `false`.

## Errors

| Code | Status |
| --- | --- |
| `NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `POLICY_IN_USE` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: NOT_FOUND, POLICY_IN_USE
- `401` — Missing or invalid access token
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `409` — The Idempotency-Key is still being processed by another request.
- `422` — The Idempotency-Key was already used with a different request payload.
- `429` — Too many requests
- `500` — Internal server error