Workspace Lifecycle Policy

TTL and retention rules for all _workspace/ directories across the repo.

Workspace Lifecycle Policy

Defines the retention rules and permitted contents for _workspace/ directories across every folder in the repo.

---

Scope

In scope	Out of scope
All _workspace/ directories at any depth in the repo	workspace/ root directory (planning workspace — separate governance)
Scratch files, drafts, notes, and archive content under _workspace/	workspace/plan/active/ plan files (no TTL; removed when plan closes)
docs-guide/_workspace/, v2/**/_workspace/	Content pages in nav paths

---

Standard _workspace/ Subdirectory Structure

Each _workspace/ in a content section should use this structure:

_workspace/
├── notes/      ← planning notes, decisions, todo lists (30-day TTL)
├── drafts/     ← in-progress content not yet nav-ready (30-day TTL)
├── research/   ← background reading, source material (30-day TTL)
├── reviews/    ← review packets, audit outputs (30-day TTL)
└── archive/    ← deprecated content staging (90-day TTL then delete)

Not every _workspace/ needs all subdirs. Only create what is in use.

---

Rules

1. 30-day TTL — scratch directories — files in notes/, drafts/, research/, and reviews/ that have not been modified in 30 days must be actioned (promoted to nav, moved to archive, or deleted). Stale scratch is not an asset.

2. 90-day TTL — archive — files in archive/ that have not been promoted back to active use in 90 days must be permanently deleted. Archive is a staging area, not long-term storage.

3. _workspace/ is not a nav path — no file under any _workspace/ may appear in docs.json. All _workspace/ directories are covered by .mintignore.

4. No non-standard folder names — inside a content folder, planning files must live in _workspace/. Using x-archived/, x-deprecated/, _archive/, _contextData_/, _move_me/, or similar ad-hoc names is not permitted for new work. Existing non-standard folders must be migrated to _workspace/ as part of folder governance work.

5. One _workspace/ per folder — each content folder gets exactly one _workspace/. Do not create multiple archive strategies or staging variants within the same folder.

6. index.md nav-stub exemption — a bare index.md inside a _workspace/ subdirectory used only to suppress Mintlify “empty folder” warnings is exempt from TTL. These stubs are 0-byte or contain only a comment. They are never promoted to nav.

---

Enforcement

Mechanism	Trigger	Script / Tool
Scheduled retention sweep	Weekly (Monday 08:00 UTC)	.github/workflows/tasks-retention.yml (stub — not yet implemented)
Manual TTL review	Human review during plan execution	Human process; flagged during folder governance work

Note: tasks-retention.yml is currently a stub. Full automated TTL enforcement is planned but not yet implemented. Until then, TTL rules are enforced by the human reviewer during active governance work.

---

Exceptions

• workspace/plan/active/ plan folders — active plans have no TTL. They are closed (moved to workspace/plan/complete/) when work is done, not when they go stale.
• workspace/plan/complete/ archive — completed plan folders are retained indefinitely as a decision record unless explicitly purged.
• _workspace/archive/ during active migration — files being migrated as part of an approved plan step are exempt from TTL for the duration of that plan phase.

---

Related

• Docs Guide Structure Policy
• V2 Folder Governance
• Root Allowlist Governance