Michael Suchacz
2874d4b4cd
> Mux is acting on Mike's behalf. Adds configurable retention for chat debug data, including the purge query, updated_at index, site config, experimental API, SDK types, frontend lifecycle setting, and docs. The purge deletes debug runs older than the configured retention window and relies on existing cascades to delete steps. The default retention is 30 days, and setting the value to 0 disables the purge.
2.4 KiB
Conversation Data Retention
Coder Agents automatically cleans up old conversation data to manage database growth. Archived conversations and their associated files are periodically purged based on a configurable retention period.
Conversations become eligible for purging only after they are archived. Old conversations can be archived manually, or automatically. See Auto-Archive for how the two controls interact.
Debug run and step cleanup is controlled separately. See Chat Debug Data Retention.
How it works
A background process runs approximately every 10 minutes to remove expired conversation data. Only archived conversations are eligible for deletion — active (non-archived) conversations are never purged.
When an archived conversation exceeds the retention period, it is deleted along with its messages, diff statuses, and queued messages via cascade. Orphaned files (not referenced by any active or recently-archived conversation) are also deleted. Both operations run in batches of 1,000 rows per cycle.
Configuration
Navigate to the Agents page, open Settings, and select the Behavior tab to configure the conversation retention period. The default is 30 days. Use the toggle to disable retention entirely.
Use the experimental admin API to read or update the value:
GET /api/experimental/chats/config/retention-days
PUT /api/experimental/chats/config/retention-days
What gets deleted
| Data | Condition | Cascade |
|---|---|---|
| Archived conversations | Archived longer than retention period | Messages, diff statuses, queued messages deleted via CASCADE. |
| Conversation files | Older than retention period AND not referenced by any active or recently-archived conversation | — |
Unarchive safety
If a user unarchives a conversation whose files were purged, stale file references are automatically cleaned up by FK cascades. The conversation remains usable but previously attached files are no longer available.