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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

Retention applies to traces, not stored files, at every period including 0 days. A file exists only because you asked to keep it (an upload, or store: true on a generation), so it remains until you delete it or its expiry passes. See Files and retention policy. Response caching depends on cache rules only. A retention rule does not turn it on or off at any period, including 0 days, and neither does a provider data policy in Model access. Cache rules are set through the Management API.

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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.
Last modified on October 21, 2026