Delete

The delete operation removes nodes or edges from the graph. When a node is deleted, all edges connected to it are automatically removed as well.

Deleting nodes

Use delete TypeName where predicate to remove nodes that match a condition:

query remove_person($name: String) {
    delete Person where name = $name
}

omnigraph change --uri ./my-graph \
    --query mutations.gq \
    --name remove_person \
    --params '{"name": "Alice"}'

Or via the HTTP API:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/change \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
        "query_source": "query remove_person($name: String) { delete Person where name = $name }",
        "query_name": "remove_person",
        "params": {"name": "Alice"},
        "branch": "main"
    }'

Deleting edges

Edges are deleted the same way. Use the edge type name and a where clause. Edge endpoints are referenced by the reserved fields from and to:

query remove_knows_from($person: String) {
    delete Knows where from = $person
}

Delete mutations currently support a single predicate, so choose a property that identifies the rows you want to remove.

Where clause

The where clause supports the same operators as update:

Edge cascade on node delete

When you delete a node, Omnigraph automatically removes every edge where that node appears as either from or to. This prevents dangling references in the graph.

For example, given this schema:

node Person {
    name: String @key
}

node Company {
    name: String @key
}

edge WorksAt: Person -> Company
edge Knows:   Person -> Person

Deleting a Person named "Alice" removes:

• The Person node itself
• Every WorksAt edge where Alice is the source
• Every Knows edge where Alice is either source or destination

No orphaned edges remain in the graph after the delete completes.

Bulk deletes

A where clause that matches multiple rows deletes all of them in a single transaction:

query clear_completed() {
    delete Task where status = "completed"
}

omnigraph change --uri ./my-graph \
    --query mutations.gq \
    --name clear_completed

This removes every Task with status = "completed" and cascades to all edges connected to those tasks.

Transactional safety

Delete operations are fully transactional:

• If the delete succeeds, all matching nodes and their cascaded edges are removed atomically.
• If any part of the delete fails, the entire operation is rolled back and no data is changed.
• Deletes on a branch do not affect other branches until the branch is merged.

This makes it safe to issue broad deletes on a branch, inspect the result, and discard the branch if the outcome is not what you expected.