Data Retention

Configurable data retention system for ASP.NET Core applications. Automatically manages soft-deleted records based on retention policies configured in appsettings.json.

Features

• ✅ Multiple Strategies - Choose between delete, archive, or implement custom strategies.
• ✅ Configurable Retention Policies - Define different retention periods for each table.
• ✅ Background Service - Runs automatically on a configurable schedule.
• ✅ Table-Specific Settings - Configure column names and retention days per table.
• ✅ Enable/Disable - Toggle cleanup globally or per table.
• ✅ Extensible - Implement IDataRetentionStrategy for custom behavior.

Installation

Delete Strategy (Permanent Deletion)

dotnet add package MasLazu.AspNet.DataRetention.Database.Delete

Usage

1. Register the Service

In your Program.cs:

using MasLazu.AspNet.DataRetention.Database.Delete.Extensions;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add database data retention with delete strategy
builder.Services.AddDatabaseDataRetentionWithDelete(builder.Configuration);

2. Configure in appsettings.json

{
  "DataRetention": {
    "Enabled": true,
    "CleanupIntervalHours": 24,
    "InitialDelayMinutes": 10,
    "Schema": "public",
    "Tables": [
      {
        "TableName": "users",
        "DeletedDateColumn": "deleted_at",
        "RetentionDays": 30,
        "Enabled": true
      },
      {
        "TableName": "refresh_tokens",
        "DeletedDateColumn": "deleted_at",
        "RetentionDays": 7,
        "Enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Configuration Options

Global Settings

Property	Type	Default	Description
Enabled	bool	true	Enable/disable the service globally
CleanupIntervalHours	int	24	How often to run cleanup (hours)
InitialDelayMinutes	int	10	Delay before first cleanup (minutes)
Schema	string?	"public"	Database schema name

Table-Specific Settings

Property	Type	Default	Description
TableName	string	required	Name of the table to clean
DeletedDateColumn	string	"deleted_at"	Column storing deletion timestamp
RetentionDays	int	30	Days to keep soft-deleted records
Enabled	bool	true	Enable/disable for this table

How It Works

1. Soft Delete Detection: Finds records where deleted_at (or configured column) is NOT NULL.
2. Retention Check: Compares deletion timestamp against retention period.
3. Permanent Deletion: Removes records older than retention period using SQL DELETE.
4. Scheduled Execution: Runs on configured interval (default: daily).

Custom Strategies

You can implement custom retention strategies by implementing IDataRetentionStrategy:

public interface IDataRetentionStrategy
{
    Task<int> ExecuteAsync(
        DbContext dbContext,
        TableRetentionPolicy policy,
        string? schema,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken);
}