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Opper retention controls whether Opper stores traces of your calls and how long those traces remain available. Open Rules and use the tracing toggle to turn trace storage on or off for the organization. Retention rules are a Control Plane feature. On the Gateway plan, Opper stores no inputs or outputs, but every call still appears in Logs with its usage record. Provider data requirements are separate. Use Model access to choose which provider data policies your calls must meet. Turning Opper tracing off does not change model access, and selecting a provider’s zero data retention policy does not turn Opper tracing off.

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Turn tracing on or off

With tracing On, Opper stores spans, inputs, and outputs for the effective retention period. Set trace retention to a whole number from 1 to 30 days.
Opper retention with tracing On, a 7-day trace retention period, and the option to shorten retention for a project
With tracing Off, switching off an enabled organization retention rule sets it to 0 days. New calls do not store trace content, and project rules cannot turn tracing back on while that organization-wide zero-day rule applies. Usage and cost are still recorded.
Opper retention with tracing Off and a notice that retention is 0 days for every project while usage and cost are still recorded
Turning tracing back on restores the previous valid period if you switched it off in the same page session. Otherwise, it uses 7 days. You can change that period before saving. Select Save changes to apply your draft, or Discard to return to the saved settings. A new trace retention period applies to calls made after you save. Existing traces keep the expiry date they received when they were created; turning tracing off does not immediately delete those traces.

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When no organization retention rule is enabled

The toggle also shows Off when the organization rule is missing or disabled. This is different from an enabled 0-day rule: a project can still store traces if it has its own enabled positive retention period. With no applicable enabled retention rule, Opper records usage metadata but does not store traces. Removing the organization rule therefore does not enforce zero-day retention across every project. Check the explanation beside the toggle to see whether retention is zero, the rule is disabled, or no organization rule exists.

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Shorten retention for a project

With organization tracing on, select Shorten retention for a project and choose a project. Set its period from 0 to 30 days. The effective period is always the shortest enabled retention rule that applies. For example, if the organization keeps traces for 30 days and a project has a 7-day override, that project keeps traces for 7 days. A project cannot extend the organization period. Set a project to 0 days to stop storing its new traces while other projects continue tracing.

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Files and response caching

Positive trace retention periods apply to traces, not stored files. Files keep their own lifetime: they remain until deleted unless you set a file expiry. See Files and retention policy. An enabled 0-day retention rule has additional effects in its scope:
  • File uploads are rejected and generated outputs are not persisted as stored files.
  • Existing files are scheduled for permanent deletion. If files already exist, saving the rule asks you to confirm the number that will be deleted.
  • Response caching is skipped. Requests that explicitly ask to use or refresh the cache, or set a positive cache lifetime, are rejected.
These effects follow Opper’s zero-day retention setting. A provider data policy in Model access does not apply them by itself.

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Usage metadata is retained separately

Opper keeps a separate usage record for billing and reporting. It contains cost, tokens, latency, status, provider, model, and any X-Opper-Tags used for usage attribution. It does not contain prompts or responses. Usage records are retained for 5 years, including when tracing is off. Trace retention rules do not shorten this period. Logs lists these records one call at a time, and shows each call’s input and output while its retention period lasts.
Tags are kept with usage records. Avoid putting sensitive data in tags; include only the identifiers you need for attribution.

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Checks without stored traces

Checks that act during the request still enforce when effective retention is zero or unset. Block rejects matching calls and Redact replaces matching content. Flag still evaluates, but has no stored span on which to record its result. Score checks need stored outputs and pause until the affected calls have a positive retention period.

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Existing zero data retention rules

Organizations that saved an older combined zero data retention rule still have that rule enforced. It forces retention to 0 days and restricts model access; the tracing toggle is locked while the organization rule is active. Select Replace with new settings to prepare a replacement: tracing stays off in Opper retention, and the provider restrictions move to Model access. Save the changes to apply the replacement. You can then manage Opper storage and provider requirements separately. Existing project-scoped zero data retention rules remain in the override list as 0 days with a ZDR badge and continue to apply to those projects.
Last modified on September 30, 2026