Stop tracking a customer

API at a glance

Description:
This API permanently deletes all personal data associated with a customer and removes them from tracking.
This action is irreversible and supports GDPR and other privacy compliance requirements.

Authentication & testing

Testing the API on this page

How to try it here

Use your User API Key as the Username (leave Password blank).

Select the appropriate API endpoint based on your Blueshift region.

Enter the necessary parameters and click Try It to run the request.

Authentication using Base64 encoding

Note for developers

API requests require authentication using HTTP Basic Authentication with an API key. The API key serves as the username, while the password field should be left empty. The format to encode is: your_api_key: (note the trailing colon).

This string must be Base64-encoded and included in the request's Authorization header as follows:

Authorization: Basic encoded_value

You can generate the encoded value using a trusted Base64 encoder.

Postman collection

Try it with Postman: Explore the API using Blueshift's Postman collection.

Things to know before you start

Permanent deletion: This action permanently deletes all customer data and cannot be undone.
Asynchronous deletion: Customer data deletion is not immediate. It can take a couple of hours to complete fully across systems.
CRITICAL – Required identifier: You must provide at least one identifier: email, customer_id, cookie, or device_id.
Without a valid identifier, the request will fail.
Campaign exclusion: Once a customer is forgotten, Blueshift stops tracking the customer and excludes them from all campaigns.
Use case: Best for GDPR “right to be forgotten” requests, privacy compliance, and removing customers from all tracking and messaging.

Request parameters

Check out the request parameters

Body parameters

Note: At least one identifier is required.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`email`	`string`	❌ No	Email address of the customer to forget.
`customer_id`	`string`	❌ No	External customer ID of the customer.
`cookie`	`string`	❌ No	Cookie ID assigned to the customer by your website.
`device_id`	`string`	❌ No	Device ID linked to the customer’s mobile or web device.

Example requests & responses

Stop tracking by email

{
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

{
  "status": "ok"
}

Stop tracking by customer ID

{
  "customer_id": "CUST-12345"
}

{
  "status": "ok"
}

Successful response with customer object

What happens: The customer is marked as forgotten. Background deletion may continue for a few hours.

{
  "customer": {
    "is_forgotten": true,
    "forgotten_at": "2025-12-23T13:20:40.622571Z"
  }
}

API error responses

Note
The following error codes are commonly returned by Blueshift APIs. Depending on the specific endpoint, not all may apply.

Status code	Description	Example responses
400 Bad Request	The request is invalid due to missing or incorrect parameters. This includes missing fields, invalid values, formatting issues, or conflicts such as duplicate data.	`{ "errors": { "name": ["can't be blank"] } }` `{ "errors": { "startdate": ["can't be blank"] } }`
401 Unauthorized	API authentication failed due to an invalid or missing API key.	`{ "message": "Not authorized" }`
403 Forbidden	The API key does not have sufficient permissions to perform this action.	`{ "message": "Permission denied" }`
404 Not Found	The specified campaign was not found. Verify the campaign UUID.	`{ "message": "Campaign not found" }`
422 Unprocessable Entity	The campaign cannot be paused due to its current status (e.g., already completed or archived). One or more scheduling parameters may be invalid (if applicable).	`{ "message": "Campaign cannot be paused in its current status." }` `{ "message": "Invalid schedule values" }`
429 Too Many Requests	The request limit has been exceeded. Reduce request frequency.	`{ "message": "Rate limit exceeded" }`
500 Internal Server Error	An unexpected server error occurred. Contact support if the issue persists.	`{ "message": "Internal Server Error - Please contact support for more information." }`
502 Bad Gateway	The server received an invalid response. Retry the request.	`{ "message": "Bad Gateway - Please retry the request." }`
503 Service Unavailable	The service is temporarily unavailable. Try again later.	`{ "message": "Service Unavailable - The service is temporarily unavailable. Try again later." }`
504 Gateway Timeout	The server took too long to respond. Retry the request with exponential backoff.	`{ "message": "Gateway Timeout - The server took too long to respond. Retry with exponential backoff." }`