[Bug] Project files deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays set to 1825

Bug Description
"cleanupPeriodDays": 1825,

but

find ~/.claude/projects/ -mtime +30 |wc 
      0

we have 4-year retention requirements. What deleted these? It wasn't us...

Environment Info

Platform: linux
Terminal: vte-based
Version: 2.0.69
Feedback ID: 1e47d300-5c94-4f99-ae46-b69c08ce509f

Errors

[]

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

Disable auto-deletion of past conversations #4172

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

That's related, but it's a different issue. We have the setting to have a maximum cleanup period much larger than the default, but it's still deleting them:

// .claude/settings.json
{
  "cleanupPeriodDays": 1825,

@JGKle

@JGKle, Is Claude still respecting this setting?

Yes, I've not had it delete any data since adjusting the setting.

is this where you have it?

// .claude/settings.json
{
  "cleanupPeriodDays": 1825,

Yes...set to 99999

Okay, well I set mine to 99999 as well. I wonder why 1825 is not working. Mine is clearly resetting to 30 days. Okay, well I set mine to 99999 as well. For now, I have an RSync cron script so that we can meet our internal policy requirements, but I think there's a bug somewhere, at least in the version I'm using above.

Confirming this bug on Linux, currently running Claude Code 2.1.1.

Our experience:

Had cleanupPeriodDays: 99999 set
Recently noticed all conversation files older than 30 days were gone
Changed setting to 365 to test if a more "reasonable" value would work
Restored 2 conversation files from backup with timestamps 48 days old
Verified files existed on disk
Restarted Claude Code
Both files immediately deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays: 365

Current state:

Oldest file on disk is exactly 30 days old
Setting appears completely ignored regardless of value (tested 99999 and 365)

Unknown: We can't confirm whether this setting ever worked and recently broke, or if it never worked. We only noticed the missing files recently.

Using external backup scripts as a workaround for now.

Confirming this bug on Linux, currently running Claude Code 2.1.1.

Our experience:

Had cleanupPeriodDays: 99999 set

Recently noticed all conversation files older than 30 days were gone

Changed setting to 365 to test if a more "reasonable" value would work

Restored 2 conversation files from backup with timestamps 48 days old

Verified files existed on disk

Restarted Claude Code

Both files immediately deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays: 365

Current state:

Oldest file on disk is exactly 30 days old

Setting appears completely ignored regardless of value (tested 99999 and 365)

Unknown: We can't confirm whether this setting ever worked and recently broke, or if it never worked. We only noticed the missing files recently.

Using external backup scripts as a workaround for now.

I believe this has regressed again.

This time, I'm concerned that the behavior may have been intentional unauthorized removal: #16978

This issue has been inactive for 30 days. If the issue is still occurring, please comment to let us know. Otherwise, this issue will be automatically closed in 30 days for housekeeping purposes.

Unless someone sp has specifically verified this, we can only assume that it is still happening.

It is still happening for me as well.

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.

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[Bug] Project files deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays set to 1825 #15935

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[Bug] Project files deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays set to 1825 #15935

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github-actions commented on Dec 31, 2025

KJ7LNW commented on Dec 31, 2025

KJ7LNW commented on Dec 31, 2025

JGKle commented on Dec 31, 2025

KJ7LNW commented on Jan 1, 2026

JGKle commented on Jan 1, 2026

KJ7LNW commented on Jan 1, 2026

VibeCodingWW commented on Jan 8, 2026

knksmith57 commented on Jan 9, 2026

github-actions commented on Feb 8, 2026

KJ7LNW commented on Feb 8, 2026

kyzzen commented on Feb 14, 2026

github-actions commented on Mar 15, 2026

github-actions commented on Mar 23, 2026

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