Strapi Soft Delete Plugin

A professional soft delete plugin for Strapi v5. Safely delete content with the ability to restore, while maintaining data integrity.

Features

• Soft Delete: Delete items without permanently removing them from the database
• Restore Functionality: Easily restore accidentally deleted items via Admin UI
• Strapi v5 Compatible: Fully compatible with Strapi v5.35.0 and higher
• DocumentId Support: Properly handles Strapi v5's documentId system
• Admin UI Explorer: Dedicated page to view and restore soft-deleted items
• TypeScript Support: Full TypeScript definitions included
• Zero Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults

Requirements

• Strapi v5.35.0 or higher
• Node.js 18.0.0 or higher
• npm 6.0.0 or higher

Installation

From npm (recommended)

npm install @siyahbeyaz/strapi-plugin-soft-delete-custom

The plugin will automatically configure itself during installation! 🎉

If automatic configuration fails, you can run:

npm run setup

Or manually add to your config/plugins.ts:

export default {
  'soft-delete': {
    enabled: true,
    resolve: '@siyahbeyaz/strapi-plugin-soft-delete-custom'
  },
};

From GitHub

npm install https://github.com/muhammeddeliavci/strapi-plugin-soft-delete-custom/releases/download/v1.2.1/strapi-plugin-soft-delete-custom-1.2.1.tgz

Rebuild and Restart

npm run build
npm run develop

The plugin will be immediately available in your Admin panel under Plugins → Soft Delete.

Usage

Soft Delete

When you delete an item via the Content Manager or API, it's not permanently deleted. Instead:

• softDeletedAt field is set to the current timestamp
• softDeletedById field records who deleted it
• softDeletedByType field records the user type (admin/api)

The item becomes invisible in normal queries but can be restored.

Restore Deleted Items

1. Go to Plugins → Soft Delete in the Admin sidebar
2. Select the content type from the dropdown
3. Find your deleted item in the list
4. Click Restore button

The item will be immediately restored and visible again in normal queries.

Programmatic Usage

// Restore a soft-deleted entity
const restored = await strapi
  .plugin('soft-delete')
  .service('restore')
  .restore('api::article.article', documentId);

How It Works

Automatic Field Injection

The plugin automatically adds these fields to all content types:

• softDeletedAt (datetime) - When the item was soft deleted
• softDeletedById (string) - ID of the user who deleted it
• softDeletedByType (string) - Type of user (admin/api)

Query Filtering

Soft-deleted items are automatically excluded from:

• find and findMany operations
• Content Manager list views
• API responses

They only appear in the Soft Delete Explorer.

API Endpoints

All endpoints are prefixed with /admin and require authentication.

List Soft Deleted Items

GET /admin/soft-delete/items?modelUid=api::article.article

Restore Item

POST /admin/soft-delete/restore/:uid/:id

Permissions

• plugin::soft-delete.read - View soft deleted items
• plugin::soft-delete.restore - Restore soft deleted items

Troubleshooting

Plugin not appearing in Admin

1. Ensure you've run npm run build
2. Check that enabled: true is set in config/plugins.ts
3. Restart the Strapi server

Items not showing in Soft Delete Explorer

1. Check the browser console for errors
2. Ensure the content type has the softDeletedAt field
3. Try refreshing the page

Migration from Strapi v4

If upgrading from v4, you may need to manually add the soft delete fields to your existing content types or run the migration script.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT © 2026

Support

For issues and feature requests, please use the GitHub issue tracker.

Note: This plugin is designed for Strapi v5. For Strapi v4, please use a different version.