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ai& Docs

Lifecycle & Expiry

Uploaded files have a finite lifetime. ai& cleans up expired files automatically and lets you delete files on demand.

Default retention

Section titled “Default retention”

Files are retained for 30 days after upload by default. You can set a shorter expiry on individual uploads where the SDK supports it, or delete files explicitly at any time.

Manual deletion

Section titled “Manual deletion”
Terminal window
curl -X DELETE https://api.aiand.com/v1/files/file-abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-..."

The file becomes inaccessible immediately. A subsequent GET returns 404.

Automatic cleanup

Section titled “Automatic cleanup”

Once a file passes its expires_at, it is removed automatically — bytes and metadata both. Subsequent reads return 404.

What happens to references

Section titled “What happens to references”

Once a file is deleted, any chat request that references its file_id returns an error. Deletion is not reversible — re-upload the file to use it again.