fix(assets): remove unused delete_content param from deleteAsset

The delete_content query param on DELETE /api/assets/{id} was introduced
in #12125 and had its default flipped to false in #12621. In practice no
client sends it: the frontend issues a bare DELETE /assets/{id}, so every
real caller already gets the default soft-delete (the reference is hidden,
content preserved). The only thing that set delete_content=true was this
repo's own test teardown.

Remove the param from the route and the OpenAPI spec so the contract
matches what clients actually use (and lines up with the cloud surface).
The route now always soft-deletes. The underlying delete_asset_reference
helper keeps its delete_content_if_orphan option, so orphan reclamation
remains available internally for a future GC path — it's just no longer
exposed on the public endpoint. Tests that used delete_content=true for
hard cleanup now soft-delete; test_delete_upon_reference_count asserts
content preservation instead of orphan removal.

Author: mattmillerai

app/assets/api/routes.py

@@ -533,18 +533,14 @@ async def update_asset_route(request: web.Request) -> web.Response:
 @_require_assets_feature_enabled
 async def delete_asset_route(request: web.Request) -> web.Response:
     reference_id = str(uuid.UUID(request.match_info["id"]))
-    delete_content_param = request.query.get("delete_content")
-    delete_content = (
-        False
-        if delete_content_param is None
-        else delete_content_param.lower() not in {"0", "false", "no"}
-    )
 
     try:
+        # Deleting an asset is a soft delete of the reference; the underlying
+        # content is preserved (it may be shared with other references).
         deleted = delete_asset_reference(
             reference_id=reference_id,
             owner_id=USER_MANAGER.get_request_user_id(request),
-            delete_content_if_orphan=delete_content,
+            delete_content_if_orphan=False,
         )
     except Exception:
         logging.exception(

tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py

@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ def create(name: str, tags: list[str], meta: dict, data: bytes) -> dict:
 
     for aid in created:
         with contextlib.suppress(Exception):
-            http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=30)
+            http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=30)
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -260,4 +260,4 @@ def autoclean_unit_test_assets(http: requests.Session, api_base: str):
             break
         for aid in ids:
             with contextlib.suppress(Exception):
-                http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=30)
+                http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=30)

tests-unit/assets_test/test_crud.py

@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ def test_get_and_delete_asset(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seeded_asse
     assert "user_metadata" in detail
     assert "filename" in detail["user_metadata"]
 
-    # DELETE (hard delete to also remove underlying asset and file)
-    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # DELETE (soft delete; the reference is hidden, content is preserved)
+    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
     # GET again -> 404
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def test_soft_delete_hides_from_get(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seede
     aid = seeded_asset["id"]
     asset_hash = seeded_asset["asset_hash"]
 
-    # Soft-delete (default, no delete_content param)
+    # Soft-delete (delete is always a soft delete)
     rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ def test_soft_delete_hides_from_get(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seede
     ids = [a["id"] for a in rl.json().get("assets", [])]
     assert aid not in ids
 
-    # Clean up: hard-delete the soft-deleted reference and orphaned asset
-    http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # The reference is already soft-deleted; content is preserved by design.
 
 
 def test_delete_upon_reference_count(
@@ -119,16 +118,18 @@ def test_delete_upon_reference_count(
     rh2 = http.head(f"{api_base}/api/assets/hash/{src_hash}", timeout=120)
     assert rh2.status_code == 200  # asset identity preserved (soft delete)
 
-    # Re-associate via from-hash, then hard-delete -> orphan content removed
+    # Re-associate via from-hash (reuses the preserved content), then
+    # soft-delete -> content is still preserved (delete is always soft).
     r3 = http.post(f"{api_base}/api/assets/from-hash", json=payload, timeout=120)
     assert r3.status_code == 201, r3.json()
+    assert r3.json()["created_new"] is False  # content survived the soft deletes
     aid3 = r3.json()["id"]
 
-    rd3 = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid3}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    rd3 = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid3}", timeout=120)
     assert rd3.status_code == 204
 
     rh3 = http.head(f"{api_base}/api/assets/hash/{src_hash}", timeout=120)
-    assert rh3.status_code == 404  # orphan content removed
+    assert rh3.status_code == 200  # content preserved (soft delete)
 
 
 def test_update_asset_fields(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seeded_asset: dict):
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@ def test_concurrent_delete_same_asset_info_single_204(
 
     # Hit the same endpoint N times in parallel.
     n_tests = 4
-    url = f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=false"
+    url = f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}"
 
     def _do_delete(delete_url):
         with requests.Session() as s:

tests-unit/assets_test/test_downloads.py

@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def test_download_missing_file_returns_404(
         assert body["error"]["code"] == "FILE_NOT_FOUND"
     finally:
         # We created asset without the "unit-tests" tag(see `autoclean_unit_test_assets`), we need to clear it manually.
-        dr = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+        dr = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
         dr.content
 
 

tests-unit/assets_test/test_tags_api.py

@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ def test_tags_empty_usage(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, asset_factory,
     used_names = [t["name"] for t in body2["tags"]]
     assert custom_tag in used_names
 
-    # Hard-delete the asset so the tag usage drops to zero
-    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{_asset['id']}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # Delete the asset reference so the tag usage drops to zero
+    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{_asset['id']}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
     # Now the custom tag must not be returned when include_zero=false