Data retention
Set how long conversations, messages, improvements and audit records are kept, and hold one conversation back.
An Organization sets its retention periods in Settings, on the Data retention tab. Each data type has a Keep for period and an Auto-delete switch. Auto-delete is off by default for conversations, messages and improvements: nothing is deleted until an administrator turns it on.
The data types
| Data type | What the nightly sweep does after the period |
|---|---|
| Conversations | Deletes the whole conversation and its messages. It also deletes the long-term memories about a Visitor that were not updated during the period. It also deletes the activity of Projects and Tasks that is older than the period. |
| Messages | Deletes old messages from conversations that stay. The transcript in the Inbox shows that earlier messages were deleted. |
| Improvements | Deletes improvements that were not updated during the period, whatever their status. |
| Audit records | Deletes entries of the audit log that are older than the period. This type is Always on. The default period is 180 days. |
Each period is between 1 month and 5 years. One month is 30 days and one year is 365 days. A period outside these limits shows an error, and Save changes stays unavailable.
The data types are independent. For example, keep conversations for two years but delete messages after six months.
How the periods are measured
- A conversation's period starts at its last message, not at its first message. With a 30-day period, a conversation that started 3 months ago and received its last message 10 days ago is kept for 20 more days.
- A message's period starts when the message is sent.
- An improvement's period starts at its last update.
What deletion does
- The sweep runs once per night.
- Deletion is permanent. The deleted data does not go to a trash area and you cannot recover it.
- Deleted data no longer shows in the Inbox, in Insights, in exports, in chat history or in Improvements. The audit log never records the content of messages or conversations.
- When the sweep deletes a message, the linked improvements stay. They no longer show that message.
- When you turn Auto-delete off, the sweep stops. Data that the sweep deleted before does not come back.
Retention deletes data
Export what you must keep before you turn on Auto-delete or shorten a period.
Set a period
- Open Settings.
- Select the Data retention tab.
- Turn on Auto-delete for the data type.
- Type a number under Keep for and select Days, Months or Years.
- Select Save changes.
If the change starts a deletion or makes a period shorter, Ciele asks you to confirm. The next nightly sweep deletes the older data. Select Cancel to go back to the saved settings.
Only a member who can manage members can change these settings. Each change shows in the audit log.
Reasoning traces
The General tab has one more window, Reasoning trace retention. After that window, the nightly sweep removes the Thinking panel from old messages. The messages stay.
Legal hold
A legal hold exempts one conversation from the retention sweep. The sweep does not delete the conversation or its messages. Use a hold when a preservation obligation applies to one conversation, without turning retention off for every other conversation.
- Open Inbox and select the conversation.
- Open the details panel.
- Select Place legal hold in the Retention card.
The hold stays until a member selects Release legal hold. Every member sees the hold status. Only a member who can manage members can place or release a hold.
A held conversation cannot be deleted. This applies to the Inbox, the API, the retention sweep, and the deletion of the assistant that owns the conversation. To delete a held conversation or its assistant, release the hold first.
Self-hosted installations
The nightly sweep runs from the bundled scheduler. No extra configuration is needed. The sweep calls /api/cron/sweep-retention with the CRON_SECRET credential.