From b17c37144eded6af1a326699e8fa732b039ff4be Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2026 17:57:35 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Fix delete_where() leaving the connection in an open
 transaction

Table.delete_where() ran its DELETE via a bare execute() with no
commit, unlike Table.delete() which wraps in db.atomic(). The
connection was left with an open implicit transaction, so the
deletion (and all subsequent writes, including later atomic()
blocks which switched to savepoint mode) was silently rolled back
when the connection closed.

Wrap the DELETE in db.atomic() and remove the now-unnecessary
atomic() wrapper from the delete_where documentation example.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01UnLnhsH25Nnv7LHhekUfPd
---
 docs/python-api.rst  |  3 +--
 sqlite_utils/db.py   |  3 ++-
 tests/test_delete.py | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/python-api.rst b/docs/python-api.rst
index eab858e..b756605 100644
--- a/docs/python-api.rst
+++ b/docs/python-api.rst
@@ -984,8 +984,7 @@ You can delete all records in a table that match a specific WHERE statement usin
 
     >>> db = sqlite_utils.Database("dogs.db")
     >>> # Delete every dog with age less than 3
-    >>> with db.atomic():
-    >>>     db.table("dogs").delete_where("age < ?", [3])
+    >>> db.table("dogs").delete_where("age < ?", [3])
 
 Calling ``table.delete_where()`` with no other arguments will delete every row in the table.
 
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/db.py b/sqlite_utils/db.py
index ae99322..5acab69 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/db.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/db.py
@@ -2966,7 +2966,8 @@ class Table(Queryable):
         sql = "delete from {}".format(quote_identifier(self.name))
         if where is not None:
             sql += " where " + where
-        self.db.execute(sql, where_args or [])
+        with self.db.atomic():
+            self.db.execute(sql, where_args or [])
         if analyze:
             self.analyze()
         return self
diff --git a/tests/test_delete.py b/tests/test_delete.py
index 652096c..a2d93aa 100644
--- a/tests/test_delete.py
+++ b/tests/test_delete.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import sqlite_utils
+
+
 def test_delete_rowid_table(fresh_db):
     table = fresh_db["table"]
     table.insert({"foo": 1}).last_pk
@@ -32,6 +35,21 @@ def test_delete_where_all(fresh_db):
     assert table.count == 0
 
 
+def test_delete_where_commits(tmpdir):
+    path = str(tmpdir / "test.db")
+    db = sqlite_utils.Database(path)
+    db["table"].insert_all([{"id": i} for i in range(5)], pk="id")
+    db["table"].delete_where("id > ?", [2])
+    # The connection must not be left inside an open transaction,
+    # otherwise subsequent atomic() blocks never commit either
+    assert not db.conn.in_transaction
+    db["table"].insert({"id": 100})
+    db.close()
+    db2 = sqlite_utils.Database(path)
+    assert [r["id"] for r in db2["table"].rows] == [0, 1, 2, 100]
+    db2.close()
+
+
 def test_delete_where_analyze(fresh_db):
     table = fresh_db["table"]
     table.insert_all(({"id": i, "i": i} for i in range(10)), pk="id")