Remove a variant from its product

DELETE /products/{productId}/variants/{variantId}

The SKU becomes free for another variant; inventory's item (if any) is untouched. 409 LastVariant on the only variant — archive the product instead. Appends inventory.variant-removed. Idempotent: a retry finds no variant to remove (404) and appends nothing.

Access

Requires products:write.

How scopes come from roles: Scopes and roles. Getting a token: Authentication and app tokens.

Retries

Idempotent: a retry finds no variant to remove (404) and appends nothing.

A retry with the same key answers 200, with what the first call recorded.

Why every write carries a key: Idempotency and retries.

Facts appended

inventory.variant-removed

What a fact is: Facts and the journal.

AI agent tool

Agents call this as catalog_remove_variant (Catalog: Remove variant), in the catalog toolset. It is marked destructive, so the agent asks before running it.

Connecting an agent: AI agents.

Example

curl

curl -X DELETE 'https://inventory.getmanifold.io/products/prd_019cd54b-2e40-7921-ac50-698c7db3cbeb/variants/var_01a15c72-67e0-79db-818b-f233786beac6' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MANIFOLD_TOKEN"

JavaScript (fetch)

const response = await fetch("https://inventory.getmanifold.io/products/prd_019cd54b-2e40-7921-ac50-698c7db3cbeb/variants/var_01a15c72-67e0-79db-818b-f233786beac6", {
  method: "DELETE",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.MANIFOLD_TOKEN}` },
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);
const answer = await response.json();

Response · 200 · application/json

{
  "id": "prd_019cd54b-2e40-7921-ac50-698c7db3cbeb",
  "title": "Widget",
  "description": "A moulded widget for everyday fixing jobs. Dishwasher safe.",
  "status": "active",
  "handle": "widget",
  "vendor": "Tidewater Supply Co.",
  "productType": "Widgets",
  "tags": [
    "Hardware",
    "Bestseller"
  ],
  "seo": {
    "title": "Widget — moulded, dishwasher safe"
  },
  "taxClass": "standard",
  "options": [
    {
      "name": "Colour",
      "values": [
        "Blue",
        "Red",
        "Green"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "variants": [
    {
      "id": "var_019cd54b-2e4a-7ee1-b04a-3bb14b60736f",
      "sku": "WIDGET-BLUE",
      "options": [
        {
          "name": "Colour",
          "value": "Blue"
        }
      ],
      "kind": {
        "_tag": "stocked"
      },
      "createdAt": "2026-03-10T01:10:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2026-03-10T01:10:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "var_019cd54b-2e54-72b7-ae20-2d04347601b0",
      "sku": "WIDGET-RED",
      "options": [
        {
          "name": "Colour",
          "value": "Red"
        }
      ],
      "kind": {
        "_tag": "stocked"
      },
      "createdAt": "2026-03-10T01:10:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2026-03-10T01:10:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "createdAt": "2026-03-10T01:10:00.000Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-10-22T07:30:00.000Z"
}

The panel writes this call in other languages. It does not send it: Manifold's APIs do not take calls from a web page on another site, so run the call from your own code or terminal. The whole API as OpenAPI: inventory-manager.openapi.json. Base URL https://inventory.getmanifold.io.

Errors

Every refusal is a status and a JSON body whose _tag names it. A refused call changes nothing.

`401`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`Unauthorized` reason	The token is missing, expired or not one Manifold issued.	Get a fresh token and send the call again.
`TokenAlreadyUsed` tokenId	A single-use app token was already spent.	Mint a new token for this call.

`402`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`SubscriptionRequired` status	The organization's subscription has lapsed, so writes are refused.	An owner settles billing. Reads still work meanwhile.

`403`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`TenantRequired` userId	The token names no organization.	Choose the organization, then get a new token.
`ScopeRequired` required	The token's roles do not grant the scope this call needs.	Ask an owner or admin for a role that grants it.

`404`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`ProductNotFound` productId	No such record in this organization.	Check the id in the path or the body.
`VariantNotFound` sku	No such record in this organization.	Check the id in the path or the body.

`409`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`ProductArchived` productId	The product is archived, and an archived product takes no changes.	Use a product that is not archived.
`LastVariant` productId, sku	A product keeps at least one variant.	Archive the product instead.
`MirroredFromSource` source	This area is fed by your source system until the organization goes live.	Make the change in the source system, or go live first.

`503`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`RequestLogUnavailable` tokenId, reason	The service could not record the request, so it did nothing.	Send the same request again, with the same key.

How refusals work everywhere: Errors.