> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://beads.gascity.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# bd delete

> Delete one or more issues and clean up references

Generated from `bd help --doc delete`.

Delete one or more issues and clean up all references to them.
This command will:

1. Remove all dependency links (any type, both directions) involving the issues
2. Update text references to "\[deleted:ID]" in directly connected issues
3. Permanently delete the issues from the database

This is a destructive operation that cannot be undone. Use with caution.

BATCH DELETION:
Delete multiple issues at once:
bd delete bd-1 bd-2 bd-3 --force

Delete from file (one ID per line):
bd delete --from-file deletions.txt --force

Preview before deleting:
bd delete --from-file deletions.txt --dry-run

DEPENDENCY HANDLING:
Default: Fails if any issue has dependents not in deletion set
bd delete bd-1 bd-2

Cascade: Recursively delete all dependents
bd delete bd-1 --cascade --force

Force: Delete and orphan dependents
bd delete bd-1 --force

```
bd delete <issue-id> [issue-id...] [flags]
```

**Flags:**

```
      --cascade            Recursively delete all dependent issues
      --dry-run            Preview what would be deleted without making changes
  -f, --force              Actually delete (without this flag, shows preview)
      --from-file string   Read issue IDs from file (one per line)
```