Data Retention
pxdiff stores screenshots, diffs, and baselines in cloud storage (S3). This page explains how long data is retained and when it’s automatically cleaned up.
Captures and diffs
Section titled “Captures and diffs”Captures and diffs are retained as long as their branch is active. Cleanup happens in two scenarios:
Branch deletion
Section titled “Branch deletion”When a branch is deleted in GitHub (and the GitHub App is installed), pxdiff schedules cleanup 14 days after the branch is deleted. This grace period protects against accidental deletion — if the branch is recreated, the scheduled cleanup is cancelled.
After 14 days, pxdiff deletes all captures, diffs, and shared baselines for that branch from both the database and cloud storage.
Inactivity
Section titled “Inactivity”A daily scan detects branches with no new captures in 30 days. Inactive branches are cleaned up immediately — captures, diffs, and local (per-user) baselines are removed.
Protected branches (main, master, and your repository’s default branch) are never cleaned up by the inactivity scan.
Baselines
Section titled “Baselines”Baseline retention depends on how cleanup was triggered:
| Scenario | Shared baselines | Local baselines |
|---|---|---|
| Branch deleted via GitHub | Deleted after 14 days | Unaffected |
| Branch inactive for 30 days | Preserved | Deleted |
Shared baselines on inactive branches are preserved because the branch may still exist — the inactivity scan only checks pxdiff activity, not Git. If you’ve stopped running visual tests on a branch but haven’t deleted it, baselines remain available in case you resume.
Local baselines (per-user, from pxdiff local workflows) are treated as ephemeral and cleaned up after inactivity.
Hosted sites
Section titled “Hosted sites”Hosted site builds (from pxdiff storybook or pxdiff ladle cloud captures) are stored temporarily and expire after 7 days. These are used during capture and review, not as permanent hosting.
Project deletion
Section titled “Project deletion”Deleting a project immediately removes all associated data from the database: captures, diffs, baselines, suites, API keys, and site records. Cloud storage objects (screenshots, diff images) are cleaned up asynchronously.
Organization deletion
Section titled “Organization deletion”Deleting an organization cascades to all projects within it. The same cleanup behavior as project deletion applies to each project.
Summary
Section titled “Summary”| Data | Retention | Cleanup trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Captures & diffs | Until branch deleted or 30 days inactive | Automatic |
| Shared baselines | Until branch deleted in GitHub | Branch deletion cleanup |
| Local baselines | Until 30 days inactive | Inactivity scan |
| Hosted site builds | 7 days | Automatic expiry |
| Project data | Until project deleted | Manual deletion |