---
type: Domain Guide
title: Deletion And Supported Undo
description: Remove the intended entity and provide recovery that matches actual backend capabilities.
domain: design-engineering
lifecycle: experimental
provenance_kind: local
---
# Deletion And Supported Undo

## Repository Boundary

Remove the intended entity and provide recovery that matches actual backend capabilities. This is a consumer interaction composition in Design Engineering. Spatial structure comes from [List Detail](https://style.gallery/library/recipes/list-detail/index.md); this recipe adds no reusable Layout behavior.

## Reusable Method

### Selected Pattern Stack

[ID selection](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/patterns/id-selection/index.md), [single flight](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/patterns/single-flight/index.md), optionally [optimistic overlay](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/patterns/optimistic-overlay/index.md).

### Ownership And Event Flow

The collection owner tracks entities by ID. A per-entity deletion operation owns request identity and outcome. Confirmation owns a decision; an undo operation owns a real restore token or an explicitly cancellable pre-commit deletion.

Activate → confirm if required → submit deletion → reconcile acknowledgement → recover focus. Offer Undo only when a backend restore or a declared delayed-commit cancellation exists. A UI-only inverse patch cannot undo a committed deletion.

### Composition And Substitution

Use pending-until-confirmed deletion by default in this recipe. An optimistic overlay is substitutable only with a recovery contract. Confirmation and Undo solve different product decisions and are not interchangeable by appearance.

### Acceptance Sequences

| Sequence                               | Expected outcome                                                 |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Cancel confirmation                    | No deletion effect; return focus to invoker                      |
| Fail definitively while filters change | Keep or restore the intended ID without reverting unrelated data |
| Lose response after submission         | Mark outcome uncertain and reconcile before repeating            |
| Delete the last row                    | Show empty state and move focus to a logical heading             |
| Undo expires or restoration fails      | Explain failure and reconcile actual collection state            |

## Opinionated Guidance

Keep the ownership boundaries visible when composing the patterns. One screen can combine these mechanisms without making every value global. Record the rejected alternative and its user-visible cost in the [state brief](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/state-brief/index.md).

## Platform-Specific Guidance

Restore focus after confirmation and after removal of the invoker. Announce the affected entity and the real undo availability; animation completion must not authorize deletion.

## Unsupported Absolutes

These acceptance sequences are proposed integration checks, not captured product evidence. Pattern model tests do not prove this entire screen, its backend, or its focus behavior.

## Verification Contract

Adapt every acceptance row to the consumer and record actual results with the [verification matrix](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/verification/index.md). Include the ordinary successful task and at least one interrupted task. The initial handoff is `consumer_reference: not_applicable` because this fictional recipe selects no consumer profile or conformance record.

## Source, License, And Attribution

Locally authored synthesis and examples. No upstream implementation is copied. These experimental contracts describe consumer-owned behavior; review when a failure, ownership change, or platform change invalidates an assumption.

## IA Navigation

Parent: [State Management](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/recipes/index/index.md).
Next: [Continue the state management route](https://style.gallery/library/design-engineering/state-management/verification/index.md).