---
title: Delete a rule in a ruleset
description: Delete a specific rule from a ruleset using the API.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/core-services-preview.png
---

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# Delete a rule in a ruleset

Deletes a single rule in a ruleset at the account or zone level.

Use one of the following API endpoints:

* [Delete an account ruleset rule](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/subresources/rules/methods/delete/)  
`DELETE /accounts/{account_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id}/rules/{rule_id}`
* [Delete a zone ruleset rule](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/subresources/rules/methods/delete/)  
`DELETE /zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id}/rules/{rule_id}`

If the delete operation succeeds, the API method call returns a `200 OK` HTTP status code with the complete ruleset in the response body.

## Example

The following example deletes rule `$RULE_ID_1` belonging to ruleset `$RULESET_ID`.

The response will include the complete ruleset after deleting the rule.

Required API token permissions

At least one of the following [token permissions](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/)is required:
* `Mass URL Redirects Write`
* `Magic Firewall Write`
* `L4 DDoS Managed Ruleset Write`
* `Transform Rules Write`
* `Select Configuration Write`
* `Account WAF Write`
* `Account Rulesets Write`
* `Logs Write`

Delete an account ruleset rule

```

curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/rulesets/$RULESET_ID/rules/$RULE_ID_1" \

  --request DELETE \

  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"


```

```

{

  "result": {

    "id": "<RULESET_ID>",

    "name": "Custom Ruleset 1",

    "description": "My first custom ruleset",

    "kind": "custom",

    "version": "12",

    "rules": [

      {

        "id": "<RULE_ID_2>",

        "version": "2",

        "action": "js_challenge",

        "expression": "(ip.src.country in {\"GB\" \"FR\"} and cf.bot_management.score < 20 and not cf.bot_management.verified_bot)",

        "description": "challenge GB and FR based on bot score",

        "last_updated": "2021-07-22T12:54:58.144683Z",

        "ref": "<RULE_REF_2>",

        "enabled": true

      }

    ],

    "last_updated": "2021-07-22T12:54:58.144683Z",

    "phase": "http_request_firewall_custom"

  },

  "success": true,

  "errors": [],

  "messages": []

}


```

```json
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```