[role="xpack"]
[[security-api-delete-user]]
=== Delete users API
++++
<titleabbrev>Delete users</titleabbrev>
++++

Deletes users from the native realm. 

[[security-api-delete-user-request]]
==== {api-request-title}

`DELETE /_security/user/<username>` 

[[security-api-delete-user-prereqs]]
==== {api-prereq-title}

* To use this API, you must have at least the `manage_security` cluster privilege.

[[security-api-delete-user-desc]]
==== {api-description-title}

For more information about the native realm, see 
{stack-ov}/realms.html[Realms] and <<configuring-native-realm>>. 

[[security-api-delete-user-path-params]]
==== {api-path-parms-title}

`username`::
  (Required, string) An identifier for the user. 


[[security-api-delete-user-example]]
==== {api-examples-title}

The following example deletes the user `jacknich`:

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
DELETE /_security/user/jacknich
--------------------------------------------------
// TEST[setup:jacknich_user]

If the user is successfully deleted, the request returns `{"found": true}`.
Otherwise, `found` is set to false.

[source,console-result]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "found" : true
}
--------------------------------------------------