You cannot fully delete a Maven Central account, but you can remove access and unpublish your artifacts

Maven Central does not offer a complete account deletion option. Once you publish artifacts to the repository, they remain there permanently—this is by design, because other developers and projects depend on those versions. What you can do is revoke your publishing credentials, unpublish future versions, and request that Sonatype (the company that operates Maven Central) mark your account as inactive.

If you want to stop publishing to Maven Central, the practical path is to remove your credentials from your local machine and build systems, then contact Sonatype support to disable your account. If you want to remove specific artifacts that are already published, you will need to work with Sonatype directly—there is no self-service removal tool.

Key Takeaways

  • Maven Central does not allow users to delete accounts or remove published artifacts through the web interface.
  • You can revoke your publishing credentials when ready by changing your password and removing stored tokens from your development environment.
  • To formally disable your account, contact Sonatype support with your account email and request account deactivation.
  • Removing specific published artifacts requires a written request to Sonatype and is granted only in limited cases, such as security vulnerabilities or licensing errors.
  • Unpublishing future versions is possible through the Sonatype JIRA ticket system if you own the namespace.

Revoke your publishing credentials when ready

The fastest way to stop publishing is to remove your ability to publish. Log into your Sonatype account at oss.sonatype.org, go to your account settings, and change your password. This invalidates any existing authentication tokens you may have created.

Next, remove stored credentials from your local machine. Maven stores credentials in ~/.m2/settings.xml (on macOS and Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.m2\settings.xml (on Windows). Open this file and delete the <server> block that contains your Sonatype username and password or token. If you use Gradle, check ~/.gradle/gradle.properties and remove any lines containing your Sonatype credentials.

On any CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI), remove environment variables or secrets that store your Maven Central credentials. Most platforms let you delete secrets from the settings panel—do this for each repository and each environment where you stored them.

Request account deactivation from Sonatype

To formally disable your account, contact Sonatype support. Go to issues.sonatype.org and log in with your Sonatype account. Create a new issue in the Community Developers project and select the issue type Account.

In the description, write that you want to deactivate your account and include the email address associated with your Maven Central account. Sonatype support typically responds within one to three business days. They will confirm your identity and mark your account as inactive, which prevents anyone from using it to publish new artifacts.

Deactivation does not delete your account or remove your published artifacts. It straightforward locks the account so it cannot be used for publishing or repository access. Your published versions remain available to other developers.

Request removal of specific published artifacts

If you need to remove a specific version you published—for example, because it contains a security vulnerability, licensing error, or sensitive information—you must request this from Sonatype. Create an issue in the Community Developers project at issues.sonatype.org with the issue type Artifact Removal.

Include the full artifact coordinates: the group ID, artifact ID, and version number. For example: com.example:my-library:1.2.3. Explain why the artifact should be removed. Sonatype grants removal requests only in cases of security issues, licensing problems, or legal concerns—not for routine updates or changes of mind.

The removal process can take one to two weeks. Sonatype will review your request, verify you own the namespace, and then remove the artifact from the public repository. Developers who have already downloaded the version will still have it locally, but new downloads will not be possible.

Unpublish future versions of your artifacts

If you want to stop publishing new versions but keep existing ones available, you can straightforward stop pushing releases. However, if you want to formally notify Maven Central that a namespace is no longer maintained, create an issue in the Community Developers project requesting that your namespace be marked as archived or deprecated.

In the issue, include your group ID and explain that you are no longer maintaining the project. Sonatype can add a note to your namespace indicating it is no longer actively developed. This does not remove the artifacts, but it signals to other developers that the project is inactive.

What happens to your published artifacts after deactivation

Published artifacts remain in Maven Central indefinitely, even after your account is deactivated. This is intentional—removing artifacts would break any project that depends on them. Developers around the world may have pinned your library to a specific version in their build files, and removing that version would cause their builds to fail.

If you published artifacts under a group ID you own (such as com.yourcompany), you retain ownership of that namespace even after deactivation. If another developer wants to publish under the same group ID later, they will need to contact Sonatype and prove they have the right to use it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete my Maven Central account completely?

No. Maven Central does not offer complete account deletion. You can deactivate your account to prevent future publishing, but your published artifacts remain in the repository. This is by design—removing artifacts would break projects that depend on them.

What if I forgot my Sonatype password?

Go to oss.sonatype.org and click "Forgot Password" on the login page. Enter your email address and Sonatype will send you a password reset link. Use this to set a new password, which will invalidate any existing tokens.

Can I remove a version I published by mistake?

You can request removal, but Sonatype grants these requests only for security issues, licensing errors, or legal concerns. For a straightforward mistake, your best option is to publish a new version with a fix and document the issue in your release notes. Sonatype will not remove a version just because you changed your mind.

Do I need to do anything if I just stop publishing?

No. If you straightforward stop pushing new releases and remove your credentials from your development environment, your account will naturally become inactive. However, formally requesting deactivation from Sonatype makes it explicit that the account is no longer in use.

What if my group ID is still needed by other developers?

Keep your account active or transfer ownership to another maintainer. Contact Sonatype support to add a new user to your namespace. This lets someone else publish new versions under your group ID without you having to maintain the account yourself.