ak projects remove

Idempotently remove one project-registry entry without deleting or changing the project directory.

Use ak projects remove to forget one moved, deleted, or intentionally unregistered project.

Usage

ak projects remove <name|path>

Provide exactly one exact name or path. Lookup follows the same rules as projects show: path-like input matches canonical directory candidates first; plain input matches an exact, case-sensitive name. Use a path when duplicate names are ambiguous.

Examples

ak projects remove myproj
ak projects remove ./myproj
ak projects remove /workspace/myproj --json

Mutation and idempotency

When an entry matches, the command removes it from projects.json with an atomic registry save under the advisory lock. It never deletes, moves, opens, or edits the registered project directory or any journal, plan, config, or ownership file inside it.

When no entry matches, the command is deliberately idempotent: it reports that nothing was found and exits 0 without rewriting the registry. There is no prompt, preview, --yes requirement, --force, backup, or rollback.

An ambiguous name is not treated as already absent. It fails so you can retry with an explicit path.

Output and JSON

Human output reports either removal or not found in registry (nothing to remove). JSON success uses kind=projects.remove with name_or_dir, removed, and not_found under data. For an absent entry, removed is false, not_found is true, and the exit remains 0.

--quiet suppresses success stdout. Paths in output may expose local workspace details. The command performs no network, auth, provider, cache, or process operation.

Exit status

Exit	Meaning
`0`	One entry was removed, or it was already absent.
`1`	Registry lock/read/write failed, or a name matched multiple entries.
`2`	Argument or flag parsing was invalid.

In JSON mode, command-level failures use an error envelope on stderr. Flag-parse errors can remain plain text.

Recovery

Because removal affects only registry metadata and creates no backup, recover by running ak projects add <path> while the directory still exists. That creates fresh registration timestamps; it does not restore the original ones.