Every thunk can control how long its workflow data lives. Two settings work together: one decides when a finished work item is automatically deleted, and the other decides how long a deleted item can still be recovered before it is removed for good.
Both settings are per-thunk, so a thunk that handles HR records or other sensitive data can clear itself out on a short schedule while another thunk keeps its full history.
Where to find the settings
Open the thunk’s Settings, choose the AI Governance tab, and select Compliance Guardian. The Data retention block sits below the compliance options.
The two settings
Auto-delete finished work items after (days)
Turn this on and set a number of days. Once a work item reaches the Final status and has gone that many days without changing, the platform deletes it and the item moves to the trash.
This setting is off by default — no work item is ever deleted automatically until you turn it on.
Two details matter:
Only finished work is eligible. A work item that is still in progress, waiting on a person, or in an error state is never auto-deleted, no matter how old it is.
The clock counts from the item’s last change. For a finished item that is normally the moment it reached Final. If someone edits the item afterward, the countdown restarts from that edit.
Data retention period for deleted items (days)
This is how long a deleted work item stays in the trash before it is permanently removed. It applies to everything deleted from the thunk — items a person deletes by hand as well as items removed by auto-delete.
0 (the default) — deleted items are permanently removed at the next cleanup. There is no recovery window.
A positive number of days — deleted items stay in the trash, and stay recoverable, for that many days.
Permanent removal cannot be undone.
The lifecycle of a work item
Active — the work item lives in the thunk.
Deleted — either a person deleted it, or auto-delete removed it because it had been finished long enough. The item moves to the trash and no longer appears in the thunk.
Permanently removed — the retention period has elapsed and the item is erased.
Cleanup runs once a day. An item is therefore deleted or permanently removed on the first daily cleanup after its window elapses, rather than at the exact minute it becomes eligible.
Examples
Nothing is deleted automatically — the default
Auto-delete: off. Retention period: 0.
Finished work items stay in the thunk indefinitely. If someone deletes a work item by hand, it is permanently removed at the next daily cleanup, with no recovery window.
Delete finished work 30 days after it completes
Auto-delete: on, 30 days. Retention period: 0.
A work item that reached Final and has not changed for 30 days is deleted, and because the retention period is 0 it is permanently removed at the next cleanup. This is the data-minimization setup: finished work leaves the system on a fixed schedule and nothing is left behind.
The same schedule, with a 30-day safety net
Auto-delete: on, 30 days. Retention period: 30 days.
A work item that reached Final and has not changed for 30 days is deleted and moves to the trash. It sits there for another 30 days and is then permanently removed — roughly 60 days from completion to erasure, of which the last 30 are recoverable. The same 30-day safety net covers anything a person deletes by hand.
Keep everything, but make deletions recoverable
Auto-delete: off. Retention period: 30 days.
Nothing is deleted automatically. Anything a person deletes can be recovered for 30 days. This suits a thunk with no compliance-driven deletion requirement, where accidental deletion is the bigger risk.
Auto-delete | Retention period | What happens to a finished work item | What happens when someone deletes an item |
Off | 0 | Kept indefinitely | Permanently removed at the next cleanup |
On, 30 days | 0 | Permanently removed 30 days after it finishes | Permanently removed at the next cleanup |
On, 30 days | 30 days | Deleted 30 days after it finishes, permanently removed 30 days later | Recoverable for 30 days, then permanently removed |
Off | 30 days | Kept indefinitely | Recoverable for 30 days, then permanently removed |
Recovering a deleted work item
There is no current self-service way to browse the trash or restore an item from it. If you need a deleted work item back and it is still within the retention period, contact Thunk.AI support and we can recover it for you.
Once the retention period has passed, the item is permanently removed and cannot be recovered by anyone — including Thunk.AI. If accidental deletion is a concern for your thunk, set a retention period greater than 0.
Documents in content folders
Documents deleted from a content folder follow the same retention period as work items: they stay recoverable for the number of days you set, then are permanently removed. Auto-delete does not apply to them, because only work items carry a Final status.
Choosing your settings
Do you have a regulatory or policy obligation to purge finished work? Turn on auto-delete and set the number of days your policy requires. Leave the retention period at 0 if the obligation is to erase the data, or set it to a short window if you want a grace period first.
Is accidental deletion the bigger risk? Leave auto-delete off and set a retention period so that mistakes can be undone.
Not sure yet? The defaults — auto-delete off, retention period 0 — preserve every finished work item and remove anything you delete right away.
These settings sit alongside the other AI Governance controls for the thunk, and like those controls they can be changed at any time. Changing them affects future cleanups only; a work item that has already been permanently removed cannot be brought back.