# Soft Delete Patterns {#soft-delete-patterns}


How Gauzy implements soft deletes to preserve data integrity.


## Overview {#overview}


Instead of permanently deleting records, Gauzy marks them as inactive/archived:

```typescript
@MultiORMEntity("employee")
export class Employee extends TenantOrganizationBaseEntity {
  @MultiORMColumn({ default: true })
  isActive: boolean;

  @MultiORMColumn({ default: false })
  isArchived: boolean;

  @DeleteDateColumn()
  deletedAt?: Date;
}
```


## Soft Delete Behavior {#soft-delete-behavior}






```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Active: Created
    Active --> Archived: Archive
    Active --> SoftDeleted: Soft Delete
    Archived --> Active: Restore
    SoftDeleted --> Active: Restore
    SoftDeleted --> HardDeleted: Permanent Delete
```






## Implementation {#implementation}



### Service Layer {#service-layer}


```typescript
// Soft delete - sets deletedAt timestamp
async softDelete(id: string): Promise<void> {
  await this.repository.softDelete(id);
}

// Restore soft-deleted entity
async restore(id: string): Promise<void> {
  await this.repository.restore(id);
}

// Hard delete (permanent)
async hardDelete(id: string): Promise<void> {
  await this.repository.delete(id);
}
```


### Querying (Excluding Deleted) {#querying-excluding-deleted}


TypeORM's `@DeleteDateColumn` automatically filters soft-deleted records:

```typescript
// This automatically excludes soft-deleted records
const employees = await this.repository.find();

// To include soft-deleted records
const all = await this.repository.find({ withDeleted: true });

// To find only soft-deleted records
const deleted = await this.repository
  .createQueryBuilder("e")
  .withDeleted()
  .where("e.deletedAt IS NOT NULL")
  .getMany();
```


## Related Pages {#related-pages}


- [Database Schema](https://sourcey-gauzy.pages.dev/database/schema-overview/index.md) — schema overview
- [Entity Inheritance](https://sourcey-gauzy.pages.dev/architecture/entity-inheritance/index.md) — base entity
- [Bulk Operations](https://sourcey-gauzy.pages.dev/features/bulk-operations/index.md) — bulk delete