How long does CodeCatalyst retain workflow execution results?

Hello,

I investigated your query and I would like to inform you that CodeCatalyst retains workflow execution results for a maximum of 30 days. This retention period applies to artifacts generated during workflow runs. [1]

Specifically, the maximum number of days to keep artifacts from workflow executions is 30 days. After this retention period, the workflow execution history and associated artifacts are no longer available through visibility calls or in the CodeCatalyst interface.

It's important to note that this 30-day retention period is a maximum limit. If you need to retain workflow execution results for a shorter period or want to delete them sooner, you can configure your workflows accordingly.

Exceeding the 30 day retention limit for workflow artifacts in CodeCatalyst doesn't have direct negative consequences in terms of system performance or costs. However, there are several important implications to consider:

1. Data Loss: The most significant consequence is that any artifacts older than 30 days will be automatically deleted. This means you'll lose access to: * Build outputs * Test results * Deployment artifacts * Any other files generated during workflow runs
2. Compliance Issues: If your organization has compliance requirements that mandate keeping records for longer than 30 days, you may fall out of compliance if you rely solely on CodeCatalyst's built-in retention.
3. Historical Analysis Limitations: You won't be able to perform long-term trend analysis or audits on workflow runs and their outputs beyond the 30-day window.
4. Debugging Challenges: If you need to debug issues related to older releases or builds, you won't have access to the original artifacts, which could make troubleshooting more difficult.
5. Reproducibility Concerns: For projects that require long-term reproducibility, the loss of build artifacts could make it challenging to recreate older versions of your software.

To mitigate these potential issues, consider implementing the following strategies:

1. Artifact Archiving: Implement a step in your workflows to copy critical artifacts to a long-term storage solution like Amazon S3.
2. Logging: Ensure comprehensive logging of workflow runs and store these logs in a system with a longer retention period.
3. Documentation: Maintain thorough documentation of significant workflow runs, including any important outputs or decisions made based on the results.
4. Regular Backups: If certain artifacts are crucial, set up a process to regularly backup important workflow outputs before they expire.
5. Retention Policies: Implement retention policies on your archival storage to manage long-term storage costs while meeting your data retention needs.

I hope the above information serves you well. Meanwhile, if you have any extended questions or concerns please feel free to write back to me with the query/error you might be facing. I will be glad to assist you further.

Thank you and have a great day ahead!

Reference: [1] Workflow states in CodeCatalyst - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codecatalyst/latest/userguide/workflows-workflow-status.html

Thank you for detailed reply. I looked at the reference you mentioned and I didn't see where it says workflow execution results are retained for 30 days and then results and artifacts are no longer available through CodeCatalyst interface. Furthermore, I went through some of my workflows and I see several of them with lots of workflow run execution results from several months to over one year ago. I clicked into a few of the runs and verified that I can see both the execution results and the reports and artifact outputs. I do see in the CodeCatalyst quotas page that artifacts are retained for only 30 days, which makes sense because those are larger, although that also doesn't appear to be accurate because I just was able to download an artifact and open it from May 16, 2024 (and many others are also showing from earlier this year).

To be sure, this is desirable - we would like to retain these records at least a year or more because it is by far the most convenient means of auditing this information. So please don't make this retention maximum shorter. But accurately documenting the specifics of what is retained for how long would be helpful.

Finally, you mentioned that there is a way to configure a shorter duration than the maximum retention, but I did not find a means of specifying that, could you please verify and describe where that is configurable?