Delete a work item type

DELETE/api/v2/workspaces/{slug}/projects/{project_id}/work-item-types/{pk}/

Remove a work item type from a project. A successful delete returns 204 with an empty body.

Deletion is guarded. A type that is the project default, or that still has work items on it, is rejected with 409 conflict rather than cascading — the API will not silently untype existing work.

If your goal is to stop people picking a type, set is_active to false instead. That works regardless of how many work items already use the type, and it is reversible.

This write requires project mode

If the workspace manages types at the workspace level, this returns 409 work_item_types_managed_at_workspace. Delete the type on the workspace surface instead. See Work item type modes.

Path Parameters

slug:requiredstring

The workspace slug. It appears in your Plane URLs — in https://app.plane.so/my-team/projects/, the slug is my-team.

project_id:requiredstring (uuid)

The project the type belongs to.

pk:requiredstring (uuid)

The id of the work item type to delete.

Scopes

projects.work_item_types:write

Errors

Status	Code	Cause
400	validation_error	The request could not be processed as sent.
401	unauthorized	Missing or invalid credentials.
403	forbidden	Your role or token scope can't delete work item types.
404	resource_not_found	No such type, project, or workspace — or the type belongs to another project.
409	work_item_types_managed_at_workspace	The workspace manages types at the workspace level. Use the workspace surface.
409	conflict	The type is the project default, or work items still use it.
429	rate_limited	Throttled. Honor the Retry-After header before retrying.

Delete a work item type

curl -X DELETE \
  "https://api.plane.so/api/v2/workspaces/my-team/projects/4af68566-94a4-4eb3-94aa-50dc9427067b/work-item-types/d1e7a4c9-2b58-4f36-9a0e-7c3b5d81f240/" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $PLANE_API_KEY"

import requests

response = requests.delete(
    "https://api.plane.so/api/v2/workspaces/my-team/projects/4af68566-94a4-4eb3-94aa-50dc9427067b/work-item-types/d1e7a4c9-2b58-4f36-9a0e-7c3b5d81f240/",
    headers={"X-Api-Key": "your-api-key"},
)
print(response.status_code)  # 204

const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.plane.so/api/v2/workspaces/my-team/projects/4af68566-94a4-4eb3-94aa-50dc9427067b/work-item-types/d1e7a4c9-2b58-4f36-9a0e-7c3b5d81f240/",
  {
    method: "DELETE",
    headers: {
      "X-Api-Key": "your-api-key",
    },
  }
);
console.log(response.status); // 204

Response204

(empty body)

Response409

{
  "type": "https://api.plane.so/errors/conflict",
  "title": "Conflict",
  "status": 409,
  "code": "conflict",
  "detail": "A work item type with existing work items cannot be deleted."
}

Before a delete will succeed

Work through these in order:

1. It must not be the default. Promote another type with mark-default. Marking a new default clears the flag on this one in the same request.
2. No work items may reference it. Move them to another type, or delete them. There is no force flag — the check is the point.

Both failures come back as 409 conflict, distinguished by the detail string. Branch on the status and code; treat detail as text for humans.

Two 409s, two different meanings

conflict means the type is protected or in use — a state you can fix. work_item_types_managed_at_workspace means you called the wrong surface — a routing mistake, fixed by calling the workspace endpoint instead. Always read the code, never just the status.