diff --git a/swh/fuse/cache.py b/swh/fuse/cache.py
--- a/swh/fuse/cache.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/cache.py
@@ -187,6 +187,12 @@
         )
         await self.conn.commit()
 
+    async def remove(self, swhid: SWHID) -> None:
+        await self.conn.execute(
+            "delete from metadata_cache where swhid=?", (str(swhid),),
+        )
+        await self.conn.commit()
+
 
 class BlobCache(AbstractCache):
     """ The blob cache map SWHIDs of type `cnt` to the bytes of their archived
@@ -227,6 +233,12 @@
         )
         await self.conn.commit()
 
+    async def remove(self, swhid: SWHID) -> None:
+        await self.conn.execute(
+            "delete from blob_cache where swhid=?", (str(swhid),),
+        )
+        await self.conn.commit()
+
 
 class HistoryCache(AbstractCache):
     """ The history cache map SWHIDs of type `rev` to a list of `rev` SWHIDs
@@ -374,7 +386,7 @@
         return self.lru_cache.get(direntry.inode, None)
 
     def set(self, direntry: FuseDirEntry, entries: List[FuseEntry]) -> None:
-        if isinstance(direntry, (CacheDir, OriginDir)):
+        if isinstance(direntry, (CacheDir, CacheDir.ArtifactShardBySwhid, OriginDir)):
             # The `cache/` and `origin/` directories are populated on the fly
             pass
         elif (
diff --git a/swh/fuse/fs/entry.py b/swh/fuse/fs/entry.py
--- a/swh/fuse/fs/entry.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/fs/entry.py
@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@
 
     RDONLY_FILE = S_IFREG | 0o444
     RDONLY_DIR = S_IFDIR | 0o555
-    SYMLINK = S_IFLNK | 0o444
+    RDONLY_LNK = S_IFLNK | 0o444
+
+    # `cache/` sub-directories need the write permission in order to invalidate
+    # cached artifacts using `rm {SWHID}`
+    RDWR_DIR = S_IFDIR | 0o755
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -57,6 +61,9 @@
 
         raise NotImplementedError
 
+    async def unlink(self, name: str) -> None:
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
     def get_relative_root_path(self) -> str:
         return "../" * (self.depth - 1)
 
@@ -132,7 +139,7 @@
         target: path to symlink target
     """
 
-    mode: int = field(init=False, default=int(EntryMode.SYMLINK))
+    mode: int = field(init=False, default=int(EntryMode.RDONLY_LNK))
     target: Union[str, bytes, Path]
 
     async def size(self) -> int:
diff --git a/swh/fuse/fs/mountpoint.py b/swh/fuse/fs/mountpoint.py
--- a/swh/fuse/fs/mountpoint.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/fs/mountpoint.py
@@ -176,6 +176,16 @@
                     target=Path(root_path, f"archive/{swhid}{JSON_SUFFIX}"),
                 )
 
+        async def unlink(self, name: str) -> None:
+            try:
+                if name.endswith(JSON_SUFFIX):
+                    name = name[: -len(JSON_SUFFIX)]
+                swhid = parse_swhid(name)
+                await self.fuse.cache.metadata.remove(swhid)
+                await self.fuse.cache.blob.remove(swhid)
+            except ValidationError:
+                raise
+
     async def compute_entries(self) -> AsyncIterator[FuseEntry]:
         prefixes = set()
         async for swhid in self.fuse.cache.get_cached_swhids():
@@ -185,7 +195,7 @@
             yield self.create_child(
                 CacheDir.ArtifactShardBySwhid,
                 name=prefix,
-                mode=int(EntryMode.RDONLY_DIR),
+                mode=int(EntryMode.RDWR_DIR),
                 prefix=prefix,
             )
 
diff --git a/swh/fuse/fuse.py b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
--- a/swh/fuse/fuse.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
@@ -309,6 +309,26 @@
         assert isinstance(entry, FuseSymlinkEntry)
         return os.fsencode(entry.get_target())
 
+    async def unlink(
+        self, parent_inode: int, name: str, _ctx: pyfuse3.RequestContext
+    ) -> None:
+        """ Remove a file """
+
+        name = os.fsdecode(name)
+        parent_entry = self.inode2entry(parent_inode)
+        self.logger.debug(
+            "unlink(parent_name=%s, parent_inode=%d, name=%s)",
+            parent_entry.name,
+            parent_inode,
+            name,
+        )
+
+        try:
+            await parent_entry.unlink(name)
+        except Exception as err:
+            self.logger.exception("Cannot unlink: %s", err)
+            raise pyfuse3.FUSEError(errno.ENOENT)
+
 
 async def main(swhids: List[SWHID], root_path: Path, conf: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
     """ swh-fuse CLI entry-point """
diff --git a/swh/fuse/tests/test_cache.py b/swh/fuse/tests/test_cache.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/fuse/tests/test_cache.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2020 The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+import os
+
+from swh.fuse.tests.data.config import REGULAR_FILE
+from swh.model.identifiers import parse_swhid
+
+
+def test_cache_artifact(fuse_mntdir):
+    assert os.listdir(fuse_mntdir / "cache") == ["origin"]
+
+    (fuse_mntdir / "archive" / REGULAR_FILE).is_file()
+
+    swhid = parse_swhid(REGULAR_FILE)
+    assert os.listdir(fuse_mntdir / "cache") == [swhid.object_id[:2], "origin"]
+
+
+def test_purge_artifact(fuse_mntdir):
+    DEFAULT_CACHE_CONTENT = ["origin"]
+
+    assert os.listdir(fuse_mntdir / "cache") == DEFAULT_CACHE_CONTENT
+
+    # Access a content artifact...
+    (fuse_mntdir / "archive" / REGULAR_FILE).is_file()
+    assert os.listdir(fuse_mntdir / "cache") != DEFAULT_CACHE_CONTENT
+    # ... and remove it from cache
+    swhid = parse_swhid(REGULAR_FILE)
+    os.unlink(fuse_mntdir / "cache" / swhid.object_id[:2] / str(swhid))
+
+    assert os.listdir(fuse_mntdir / "cache") == DEFAULT_CACHE_CONTENT