fix(local): honor nested json-path keys in delete_payload

[winklemad]

Problem

In local mode, delete_payload only removed top-level dict keys:

for key in keys:
    if key in self.payload[idx]:
        self.payload[idx].pop(key)

A key given as a json path — a.b, location[0].name, location[].name — never matches a top-level key, so the delete is a silent no-op. The server deletes nested keys via dot notation and preserves the rest of the payload, so local mode diverged from it.

client = QdrantClient(":memory:")
# ... upsert id=1 with payload {"a": {"b": 1, "c": 2}, "top": 9}
client.delete_payload("t", keys=["a.b"], points=[1])
client.retrieve("t", ids=[1], with_payload=True)[0].payload
# local:  {"a": {"b": 1, "c": 2}, "top": 9}   <- a.b not removed
# server: {"a": {"c": 2}, "top": 9}

Change

set_payload and filters already resolve these paths through parse_json_path; delete_payload was the one payload operation ignoring them. This adds a delete_value_by_key helper next to set_value_by_key that walks the same JsonPathItem path and removes the leaf — a path that does not resolve is a no-op, and sibling values are preserved — then calls it from delete_payload. Top-level deletes behave exactly as before.

Tests

• tests/local/test_delete_value_by_key.py — unit coverage for the helper: top-level, nested dict path, deep path, array index, array wildcard, non-existent path no-op, and traversal through a non-dict. Fails on the current code (the helper does not exist).
• tests/congruence_tests/test_payload.py::test_delete_payload_with_nested_key — asserts local and remote agree for a nested dict key, a non-existent nested path, an array-wildcard field, and mixed top-level + nested keys.

Checklist

• Branch created from dev and targets dev
• Followed the contributing conventions (sole-author, conventional-commit title, pre-commit ran clean)
• Checked for duplicate open PRs

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📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• qdrant_client/local/payload_value_setter.py
• tests/congruence_tests/test_payload.py
• tests/local/test_delete_value_by_key.py

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (3)

• tests/local/test_delete_value_by_key.py
• tests/congruence_tests/test_payload.py
• qdrant_client/local/payload_value_setter.py

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Local payload deletion now removes values addressed by nested JSON paths. The recursive function handles dictionary keys, array indices, wildcard array paths, missing paths, and incompatible traversal types. Tests cover local behavior and local-to-remote congruence.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 3f0cf

Local payload deletion now supports nested JSON paths while preserving server-compatible indexed-path behavior. The described tests cover the added traversal and no-op cases, with no current merge-blocking risk identified.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 18.18% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 11 functions across 4 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: local delete_payload now honors nested JSON-path keys.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is directly related to the changeset. It explains the local-mode behavior, implementation, server-semantics alignment, and test coverage.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@qdrant_client/local/payload_value_setter.py`:
- Around line 57-60: Update delete_value_by_key so terminal INDEX components are
not deleted, and require nested index traversal to satisfy 0 <=
current_key.index. Update parse_json_path to reject negative indexes instead of
allowing Python-style negative indexing, and add local/congruence coverage for
loc[0] and loc[-1].x.

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• qdrant_client/local/local_collection.py
• qdrant_client/local/payload_value_setter.py
• tests/congruence_tests/test_payload.py
• tests/local/test_delete_value_by_key.py

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[winklemad]

Good catch on the indexed-deletion semantics — I traced it through the server source and fixed both divergences:

• Terminal array index is now a no-op. In lib/segment/src/json_path/mod.rs, value_remove leaves the leaf (Index, Array) case empty ("Deleting array indices is not idempotent, so we don't support it"). Local mode was doing del data[i] there, so it now matches the server and does nothing.
• Negative indices no longer traverse or delete. The server parses indices as usize and addresses elements with a non-negative index, so loc[-1]/loc[-1].x can't be represented server-side. Local mode was falling through to Python's negative indexing; nested traversal now requires 0 <= index < len, so those paths no-op too.

Added local cases for loc[0], loc[-1], loc[-1].x and a terminal-wildcard clear, plus a loc[0] congruence case (both sides no-op). I kept parse_json_path untouched so set_payload and filter behavior are unchanged — this stays scoped to the delete path.