Lifecycle Policies

Lifecycle policies automate data management by defining rules for retention, archival, deletion, and freezing of memories within namespaces.

Policy Types

Type	Description
retention	Delete memories older than a specified age
archive	Move old memories to cold storage
delete	Permanently remove memories matching conditions
freeze	Prevent modifications to memories matching conditions

Creating a Lifecycle Policy

curl -X POST https://api.hippocortex.dev/v1/organizations/org_abc123/lifecycle-policies \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-Organization-ID: org_abc123" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "90-day retention",
    "namespaceId": "ns_456",
    "policyType": "retention",
    "conditions": {
      "olderThanDays": 90,
      "memoryType": "event"
    },
    "actionConfig": {
      "action": "delete",
      "notifyBefore": true,
      "notifyDays": 7
    },
    "isActive": true
  }'

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
name	string	required	Human-readable name
namespaceId	string	null	Target namespace (null = org-wide)
policyType	string	required	retention, archive, delete, freeze
conditions	object	{}	When to trigger (age, type, tags, etc.)
actionConfig	object	{}	What to do when triggered
isActive	boolean	true	Whether the policy is active

Configuration Examples

90-day event retention

{
  "name": "90-day event cleanup",
  "policyType": "retention",
  "conditions": { "olderThanDays": 90, "memoryType": "event" },
  "actionConfig": { "action": "delete" }
}

Archive old artifacts

{
  "name": "Archive artifacts after 1 year",
  "policyType": "archive",
  "namespaceId": "ns_production",
  "conditions": { "olderThanDays": 365, "memoryType": "artifact" },
  "actionConfig": { "action": "archive", "destination": "cold_storage" }
}

Freeze compliance data

{
  "name": "Freeze compliance memories",
  "policyType": "freeze",
  "namespaceId": "ns_compliance",
  "conditions": { "tags": ["regulatory", "audit"] },
  "actionConfig": { "action": "freeze", "reason": "Regulatory hold" }
}

Delete test data weekly

{
  "name": "Purge test namespace",
  "policyType": "delete",
  "namespaceId": "ns_testing",
  "conditions": { "olderThanDays": 7 },
  "actionConfig": { "action": "delete" }
}

Listing Lifecycle Policies

curl "https://api.hippocortex.dev/v1/organizations/org_abc123/lifecycle-policies?\
policyType=retention&isActive=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-Organization-ID: org_abc123"

Updating a Lifecycle Policy

curl -X PATCH https://api.hippocortex.dev/v1/organizations/org_abc123/lifecycle-policies/lp_123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-Organization-ID: org_abc123" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "isActive": false }'

Deleting a Lifecycle Policy

curl -X DELETE https://api.hippocortex.dev/v1/organizations/org_abc123/lifecycle-policies/lp_123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-Organization-ID: org_abc123"

Execution

Lifecycle policies are evaluated by a background scheduler. Each policy tracks when it was last run (last_run_at) and when it should run next. The scheduler picks up active policies that are due and executes their actions.

Currently, lifecycle policies define the rules but execution is not yet automated -- they serve as the configuration layer for a future scheduler worker.