Introduction
Retention Policy
How long Zentik retains messages, attachments, and sessions
Zentik is designed for short-lived notification delivery, not long-term storage. The server retains data only until all devices have acknowledged receipt.
| Resource | Default retention | Condition | Configurable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages | 7 days | Pruned when all device notifications are acknowledged, or after max age | MESSAGES_MAX_AGE (e.g. 7d, 24h, 30d) |
| Attachments | 7 days | Deleted after max age (icons excluded) | ATTACHMENTS_MAX_AGE |
| Sessions | 14 days | Deleted when inactive for 14 days | No |
| Ephemeral messages | 1 hour | Auto-deleted after 1 hour | No |
Cleanup schedules
- Cleanup jobs run every hour for messages and attachments
- Session cleanup runs daily at 3:15 AM
- Both message and attachment cleanup jobs can be disabled via server settings (
MESSAGES_DELETE_JOB_ENABLED,ATTACHMENTS_DELETE_JOB_ENABLED) - Supported duration formats:
ms,s,m,h,d
Client-side retention
Your devices are the source of truth — the mobile app retains all notifications and media locally for a configurable period. The server only keeps the metadata needed to coordinate delivery across your devices.