Every thunk can control how long its workflow data lives. Three settings in the Data retention block work together:
Auto-finish inactive work items ends work that has stalled in progress.
Auto-delete finished work items removes work that has reached Final.
Data retention period for deleted items controls how long deleted work stays recoverable before it is erased for good.
All three 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.
You will see three controls:
Auto-delete finished work items after (days)
Data retention period for deleted items (days)
Auto-finish inactive work items after (hours)
The screenshot above shows the auto-delete and retention controls. The Auto-finish inactive work items after (hours) control appears in the same block below them.
The three settings
Auto-finish inactive work items after (hours)
Turn this on and set a number of hours. Any in-progress work item that has had no activity for that long is automatically ended — it moves to Final status, the same outcome as when a person or agent finishes the workflow.
This setting is off by default — work items are never auto-ended by inactivity until you turn it on. When you turn it on, the default is 72 hours unless you change the number.
What counts as activity:
Any change to the work item resets the clock — status changes, property edits, and other updates all count. The timer measures time since the item's last change.
Waiting-on-user items are included. A work item paused for a person counts as inactive if nothing changes for the full hour window. Thunks where work legitimately sits idle for long periods should leave this off or use a large hour count.
What auto-finish does not do:
It does not delete the work item. Ended items stay in the thunk until auto-delete removes them or someone deletes them by hand.
It does not apply to work items already in Final status or still in Draft.
Auto-finish runs throughout the day. An item is ended on the first check after its inactivity window elapses, rather than at the exact minute the threshold is crossed.
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 — including when auto-finish ended it. 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 is in progress in the thunk. Auto-finish may end it if inactivity exceeds your hour threshold.
Final — the workflow has ended, whether a person or agent finished it or auto-finish ended it after inactivity. Auto-delete may remove it after your day threshold.
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.
Deletion and permanent removal run 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 or auto-finished — the default
Auto-finish: off. Auto-delete: off. Retention period: 0.
Work items run until someone or the workflow ends them. Finished work stays 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.
End stalled work after 48 hours, then delete 30 days later
Auto-finish: on, 48 hours. Auto-delete: on, 30 days. Retention period: 0.
A work item with no activity for 48 hours is ended and moves to Final. Thirty days after that (with no further edits), it is deleted and permanently removed at the next cleanup. This suits thunks where abandoned in-progress work should not linger, and finished work should leave the system on a fixed schedule.
Delete finished work 30 days after it completes
Auto-finish: off. 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 when you only need to purge finished work, not end stalled runs.
The same schedule, with a 30-day safety net
Auto-finish: off. 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-finish: off. Auto-delete: off. Retention period: 30 days.
Nothing is ended or 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-finish | Auto-delete | Retention period | What happens to an in-progress work item | What happens to a finished work item | What happens when someone deletes an item |
Off | Off | 0 | Runs until ended normally | Kept indefinitely | Permanently removed at the next cleanup |
On, 48h | On, 30d | 0 | Ended after 48h of inactivity; deleted 30d after Final | Deleted 30d after Final; permanently removed at next cleanup | Permanently removed at the next cleanup |
Off | On, 30d | 0 | Runs until ended normally | Permanently removed 30 days after it finishes | Permanently removed at the next cleanup |
Off | On, 30d | 30d | Runs until ended normally | Deleted 30 days after it finishes, permanently removed 30 days later | Recoverable for 30 days, then permanently removed |
Off | Off | 30d | Runs until ended normally | 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 and auto-finish do not apply to them, because only work items carry workflow status.
Choosing your settings
Do stalled in-progress work items pile up? Turn on auto-finish and set an hour count that matches how long work may legitimately sit idle. Pair it with auto-delete if ended work should also leave the thunk on a schedule.
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-finish off, auto-delete off, retention period 0 — let work run and finish normally, 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.