teal;dr
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Data Retention

Understanding how TeaL;DR stores and manages your server's data.

Overview

TeaL;DR automatically manages data retention to balance searchability with privacy and storage efficiency. All retention settings are configurable by server administrators.

Default Retention Policy

  • •
    Messages: Automatically deleted after 30 days
  • •
    Embeddings: Deleted with associated messages
  • •
    Analytics: Aggregated data retained for 90 days
  • •
    Configuration: Retained until bot removal

Configuring Retention Period

Set Custom Retention Period

Administrators can adjust the message retention period between 7 and 90 days:

/settings action: Set Retention Period days: 60

Minimum: 7 days

Maximum: 90 days

Default: 30 days

View Current Retention

Check your current retention period setting:

/settings action: View Retention Period

7-14 Days

Short-term retention

  • • Recent discussions only
  • • Minimal storage
  • • High privacy

30 Days

Recommended (Default)

  • • Balanced approach
  • • Good searchability
  • • Reasonable storage

60-90 Days

Long-term archival

  • • Extended history
  • • More storage needed
  • • Comprehensive search

What Gets Stored

Message Data

For each indexed message, we store:

  • Content: Full message text
  • Metadata: Author ID, channel ID, timestamp
  • Embeddings: AI-generated semantic vectors (768 dimensions)
  • Context: Thread information, reply references

Storage per message: ~2-5 KB (text + embeddings)

Analytics Data

Aggregated statistics stored separately:

  • Message counts per user/channel
  • Activity patterns and trends
  • Topic distributions
  • Engagement metrics

Note: Analytics are anonymized and aggregated

Configuration Data

Server settings and preferences:

  • Excluded channels list
  • Retention period setting
  • Bot personality preference
  • Permission configurations

Retention: Kept until bot is removed from server

Automatic Deletion

How It Works

  1. Daily Cleanup: Bot runs automated cleanup every 24 hours
  2. Age Check: Messages older than retention period are identified
  3. Deletion: Messages and embeddings are permanently deleted
  4. Analytics Update: Aggregated stats are updated

⏰ Timing

Automatic deletion runs at 00:00 UTC daily. Messages are deleted based on their creation timestamp, not when they were indexed.

Manual Data Management

Clear Channel Data

Delete all indexed data from a specific channel:

/settings action: Clear Channel Data channel: #old-channel
⚠️ Warning: This action is irreversible. All search history for this channel will be permanently deleted.

Clear All Server Data

Delete all indexed data for your entire server:

/settings action: Clear All Data confirm: yes
⚠️ Critical: This deletes all messages, embeddings, analytics, and configuration. Requires explicit confirmation.

Bot Removal

When you remove the bot from your server:

  • New message indexing stops immediately
  • Existing data is retained for 30 days
  • After 30 days, all data is permanently deleted
  • Re-adding the bot within 30 days restores configuration

Storage Estimates

Typical Server Storage

Server SizeMessages/Day30-Day Storage90-Day Storage
Small100-500~50-250 MB~150-750 MB
Medium500-2000~250 MB-1 GB~750 MB-3 GB
Large2000-10000~1-5 GB~3-15 GB
Very Large10000+~5+ GB~15+ GB

Note: Estimates include message content, embeddings, and metadata. Actual storage may vary based on message length and attachment frequency.

Retention Best Practices

Choosing the Right Period

  • •
    Active Servers: 30 days provides good balance for most use cases
  • •
    Archival Needs: 60-90 days for servers requiring longer history
  • •
    Privacy Focus: 7-14 days for maximum privacy and minimal storage
  • •
    High Traffic: Shorter periods help manage storage on very active servers

Regular Maintenance

  • Review retention settings quarterly
  • Monitor storage usage with /stats
  • Adjust based on server activity patterns
  • Clear old channel data when channels are archived
  • Document retention policy in server rules

Compliance Considerations

  • Ensure retention period complies with your privacy policy
  • Consider GDPR/data protection requirements
  • Document data retention in Terms of Service
  • Provide clear deletion procedures for users

🔒 Privacy Guarantee

All data is isolated per server. Your server's data is never shared with other servers or used for training AI models. Data deletion is permanent and cannot be recovered.

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