Use and lock retention policies

Overview

This page describes how to use the Bucket Lock feature, including working with retention policies and permanently locking them on buckets.

Before you begin

Before you can use the Bucket Lock feature, make sure the steps in the following sections have been completed.

Get required roles

To get the permissions that you need to use Bucket Lock, ask your administrator to grant you the Storage Admin (roles/storage.admin) role on the bucket. This predefined role contains the permissions required to use Bucket Lock. To see the exact permissions required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

storage.buckets.get
storage.buckets.list
- This permission is only required if you plan on using the Google Cloud console to perform the instructions on this page.
storage.buckets.update

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles.

For information about granting roles on buckets, see Use IAM with buckets.

Set a retention policy on a bucket

To add, modify, or remove a retention policy on a bucket:

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Storage Buckets page.

Go to Buckets
In the list of buckets, click the name of the bucket whose retention policy you want to change.
Select the Protection tab near the top of the page.
In the Retention policy section, set your retention policy:
1. If no retention policy currently applies to the bucket, click the Set Retention Policy link. Choose a unit of time and a length of time for your retention period.
2. If a retention policy currently applies to a bucket, it appears in the section. Click Edit to modify the retention time or Delete to remove the retention policy entirely.
See Retention periods for information about how the Google Cloud console converts between different units of time.

To learn how to get detailed error information about failed Cloud Storage operations in the Google Cloud console, see Troubleshooting.

Command line

Use the gcloud storage buckets update command with the appropriate flag:

gcloud storage buckets update gs://BUCKET_NAME FLAG

Where:

BUCKET_NAME is the name of the relevant bucket. For example, my-bucket.
FLAG is the desired setting for the bucket's retention period. Use one of the following formats:
- --retention-period and a retention period, if you want to add or change a retention policy. For example, --retention-period=1d43200s.
- --clear-retention-period, if you want to remove the retention policy on the bucket.

If successful, the response looks like:

Updating gs://my-bucket/...
  Completed 1

Client libraries

C++

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C++ API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

namespace gcs = ::google::cloud::storage;
using ::google::cloud::StatusOr;
[](gcs::Client client, std::string const& bucket_name,
   std::chrono::seconds period) {
  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> original =
      client.GetBucketMetadata(bucket_name);
  if (!original) throw std::move(original).status();

  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> patched = client.PatchBucket(
      bucket_name,
      gcs::BucketMetadataPatchBuilder().SetRetentionPolicy(period),
      gcs::IfMetagenerationMatch(original->metageneration()));
  if (!patched) throw std::move(patched).status();

  if (!patched->has_retention_policy()) {
    std::cout << "The bucket " << patched->name()
              << " does not have a retention policy set.\n";
    return;
  }

  std::cout << "The bucket " << patched->name()
            << " retention policy is set to " << patched->retention_policy()
            << "\n";
}

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

namespace gcs = ::google::cloud::storage;
using ::google::cloud::StatusOr;
[](gcs::Client client, std::string const& bucket_name) {
  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> original =
      client.GetBucketMetadata(bucket_name);
  if (!original) throw std::move(original).status();

  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> patched = client.PatchBucket(
      bucket_name, gcs::BucketMetadataPatchBuilder().ResetRetentionPolicy(),
      gcs::IfMetagenerationMatch(original->metageneration()));
  if (!patched) throw std::move(patched).status();

  if (!patched->has_retention_policy()) {
    std::cout << "The bucket " << patched->name()
              << " does not have a retention policy set.\n";
    return;
  }

  std::cout << "The bucket " << patched->name()
            << " retention policy is set to " << patched->retention_policy()
            << ". This is unexpected, maybe a concurrent change by another"
            << " application?\n";
}

C#

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C# API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:


using Google.Cloud.Storage.V1;
using System;
using static Google.Apis.Storage.v1.Data.Bucket;

public class SetRetentionPolicySample
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Sets the bucket's retention policy.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="bucketName">The name of the bucket.</param>
    /// <param name="retentionPeriod">The duration in seconds that objects need to be retained. The retention policy enforces a minimum retention
    /// time for all objects contained in the bucket, based on their creation time. Any
    /// attempt to overwrite or delete objects younger than the retention period will
    /// result in a PERMISSION_DENIED error. An unlocked retention policy can be modified
    /// or removed from the bucket via a storage.buckets.update operation. A locked retention
    /// policy cannot be removed or shortened in duration for the lifetime of the bucket.
    /// Attempting to remove or decrease the period of a locked retention policy will result
    /// in a PERMISSION_DENIED error.</param>
    public RetentionPolicyData SetRetentionPolicy(
        string bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name",
        long retentionPeriod = 10)
    {
        var storage = StorageClient.Create();
        var bucket = storage.GetBucket(bucketName);
        bucket.RetentionPolicy = new RetentionPolicyData { RetentionPeriod = retentionPeriod };

        bucket = storage.UpdateBucket(bucket);

        Console.WriteLine($"Retention policy for {bucketName} was set to {retentionPeriod}");
        return bucket.RetentionPolicy;
    }
}

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:


using Google.Cloud.Storage.V1;
using System;

public class RemoveRetentionPolicySample
{
    public void RemoveRetentionPolicy(string bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name")
    {
        var storage = StorageClient.Create();
        var bucket = storage.GetBucket(bucketName);
        if (bucket.RetentionPolicy != null)
        {
            bool isLocked = bucket.RetentionPolicy.IsLocked ?? false;
            if (isLocked)
            {
                throw new Exception("Retention Policy is locked.");
            }

            bucket.RetentionPolicy.RetentionPeriod = null;
            storage.UpdateBucket(bucket);

            Console.WriteLine($"Retention period for {bucketName} has been removed.");
        }
    }
}

Go

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
)

// setRetentionPolicy sets the bucket retention period.
func setRetentionPolicy(w io.Writer, bucketName string, retentionPeriod time.Duration) error {
	// bucketName := "bucket-name"
	// retentionPeriod := time.Second
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := storage.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("storage.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*10)
	defer cancel()

	bucket := client.Bucket(bucketName)
	bucketAttrsToUpdate := storage.BucketAttrsToUpdate{
		RetentionPolicy: &storage.RetentionPolicy{
			RetentionPeriod: retentionPeriod,
		},
	}
	if _, err := bucket.Update(ctx, bucketAttrsToUpdate); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Update: %w", bucketName, err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Retention policy for %v was set to %v\n", bucketName, bucketAttrsToUpdate.RetentionPolicy.RetentionPeriod)
	return nil
}

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
)

// removeRetentionPolicy removes bucket retention policy.
func removeRetentionPolicy(w io.Writer, bucketName string) error {
	// bucketName := "bucket-name"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := storage.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("storage.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*50)
	defer cancel()

	bucket := client.Bucket(bucketName)
	attrs, err := bucket.Attrs(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Attrs: %w", bucketName, err)
	}
	if attrs.RetentionPolicy.IsLocked {
		return fmt.Errorf("retention policy is locked")
	}

	bucketAttrsToUpdate := storage.BucketAttrsToUpdate{
		RetentionPolicy: &storage.RetentionPolicy{},
	}
	if _, err := bucket.Update(ctx, bucketAttrsToUpdate); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Update: %w", bucketName, err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Retention period for %v has been removed\n", bucketName)
	return nil
}

Java

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:


import com.google.cloud.storage.Bucket;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage.BucketTargetOption;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;
import java.time.Duration;

public class SetRetentionPolicy {
  public static void setRetentionPolicy(
      String projectId, String bucketName, Long retentionPeriodSeconds) throws StorageException {
    // The ID of your GCP project
    // String projectId = "your-project-id";

    // The ID of your GCS bucket
    // String bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name";

    // The retention period for objects in bucket
    // Long retentionPeriodSeconds = 3600L; // 1 hour in seconds

    Storage storage = StorageOptions.newBuilder().setProjectId(projectId).build().getService();

    // first look up the bucket so we will have its metageneration
    Bucket bucket = storage.get(bucketName);
    Bucket bucketWithRetentionPolicy =
        storage.update(
            bucket
                .toBuilder()
                .setRetentionPeriodDuration(Duration.ofSeconds(retentionPeriodSeconds))
                .build(),
            BucketTargetOption.metagenerationMatch());

    System.out.println(
        "Retention period for "
            + bucketName
            + " is now "
            + bucketWithRetentionPolicy.getRetentionPeriodDuration());
  }
}

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:


import com.google.cloud.storage.Bucket;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;

public class RemoveRetentionPolicy {
  public static void removeRetentionPolicy(String projectId, String bucketName)
      throws StorageException, IllegalArgumentException {
    // The ID of your GCP project
    // String projectId = "your-project-id";

    // The ID of your GCS bucket
    // String bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name";

    Storage storage = StorageOptions.newBuilder().setProjectId(projectId).build().getService();

    Bucket bucket =
        storage.get(
            bucketName, Storage.BucketGetOption.fields(Storage.BucketField.RETENTION_POLICY));
    if (bucket.retentionPolicyIsLocked() != null && bucket.retentionPolicyIsLocked()) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Unable to remove retention policy as retention policy is locked.");
    }

    bucket.toBuilder().setRetentionPeriod(null).build().update();

    System.out.println("Retention policy for " + bucketName + " has been removed");
  }
}

Node.js

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// The ID of your GCS bucket
// const bucketName = 'your-unique-bucket-name';

// The retention period for objects in bucket
// const retentionPeriod = 3600; // 1 hour in seconds

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');

// Creates a client
const storage = new Storage();

async function setRetentionPolicy() {
  const [metadata] = await storage
    .bucket(bucketName)
    .setRetentionPeriod(retentionPeriod);
  console.log(
    `Bucket ${bucketName} retention period set for ${metadata.retentionPolicy.retentionPeriod} seconds.`
  );
}

setRetentionPolicy().catch(console.error);

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// The ID of your GCS bucket
// const bucketName = 'your-unique-bucket-name';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');

// Creates a client
const storage = new Storage();

async function removeRetentionPolicy() {
  const [metadata] = await storage.bucket(bucketName).getMetadata();
  if (metadata.retentionPolicy && metadata.retentionPolicy.isLocked) {
    console.log(
      'Unable to remove retention period as retention policy is locked.'
    );
    return null;
  } else {
    const results = await storage.bucket(bucketName).removeRetentionPeriod();
    console.log(`Removed bucket ${bucketName} retention policy.`);
    return results;
  }
}

removeRetentionPolicy().catch(console.error);

PHP

For more information, see the Cloud Storage PHP API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

use Google\Cloud\Storage\StorageClient;

/**
 * Sets a bucket's retention policy.
 *
 * @param string $bucketName The name of your Cloud Storage bucket.
 *        (e.g. 'my-bucket')
 * @param int $retentionPeriod The retention period for objects in bucket, in seconds.
 *        (e.g. 3600)
 */
function set_retention_policy(string $bucketName, int $retentionPeriod): void
{
    $storage = new StorageClient();
    $bucket = $storage->bucket($bucketName);
    $bucket->update([
        'retentionPolicy' => [
            'retentionPeriod' => $retentionPeriod
        ]]);
    printf('Bucket %s retention period set to %s seconds' . PHP_EOL, $bucketName,
        $retentionPeriod);
}

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

use Google\Cloud\Storage\StorageClient;

/**
 * Removes a bucket's retention policy.
 *
 * @param string $bucketName The name of your Cloud Storage bucket.
 *        (e.g. 'my-bucket')
 */
function remove_retention_policy(string $bucketName): void
{
    $storage = new StorageClient();
    $bucket = $storage->bucket($bucketName);
    $bucket->reload();

    if (array_key_exists('isLocked', $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']) &&
        $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']['isLocked']) {
        printf('Unable to remove retention period as retention policy is locked.' . PHP_EOL);
        return;
    }

    $bucket->update([
        'retentionPolicy' => []
    ]);
    printf('Removed bucket %s retention policy' . PHP_EOL, $bucketName);
}

Python

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

from google.cloud import storage


def set_retention_policy(bucket_name, retention_period):
    """Defines a retention policy on a given bucket"""
    # bucket_name = "my-bucket"
    # retention_period = 10

    storage_client = storage.Client()
    bucket = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name)

    bucket.retention_period = retention_period
    bucket.patch()

    print(
        "Bucket {} retention period set for {} seconds".format(
            bucket.name, bucket.retention_period
        )
    )

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

from google.cloud import storage


def remove_retention_policy(bucket_name):
    """Removes the retention policy on a given bucket"""
    # bucket_name = "my-bucket"

    storage_client = storage.Client()
    bucket = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name)
    bucket.reload()

    if bucket.retention_policy_locked:
        print(
            "Unable to remove retention period as retention policy is locked."
        )
        return

    bucket.retention_period = None
    bucket.patch()

    print(f"Removed bucket {bucket.name} retention policy")

Ruby

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Ruby API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

The following sample sets a retention policy on a bucket:

def set_retention_policy bucket_name:, retention_period:
  # The ID of your GCS bucket
  # bucket_name = "your-unique-bucket-name"

  # The retention period for objects in bucket
  # retention_period = 3600 # 1 hour in seconds

  require "google/cloud/storage"

  storage = Google::Cloud::Storage.new
  bucket  = storage.bucket bucket_name

  bucket.retention_period = retention_period

  puts "Retention period for #{bucket_name} is now #{bucket.retention_period} seconds."
end

The following sample removes the retention policy from a bucket:

def remove_retention_policy bucket_name:
  # The ID of your GCS bucket
  # bucket_name = "your-unique-bucket-name"

  require "google/cloud/storage"

  storage = Google::Cloud::Storage.new
  bucket  = storage.bucket bucket_name

  if !bucket.retention_policy_locked?
    bucket.retention_period = nil
    puts "Retention policy for #{bucket_name} has been removed."
  else
    puts "Policy is locked and retention policy can't be removed."
  end
end

REST APIs

JSON API

Have gcloud CLI installed and initialized , which lets you generate an access token for the Authorization header.

Create a JSON file that contains the following information:

{
  "retentionPolicy": {
    "retentionPeriod": "TIME_IN_SECONDS"
  }
}

Where TIME_IN_SECONDS is the amount of time in seconds that objects in the bucket must be retained. For example, 2678400. See Retention periods for information about how different units of time are measured using seconds.

To remove the retention policy from a bucket, use the following in the JSON file:

{
  "retentionPolicy": null
}

Use cURL to call the JSON API with a PATCH Bucket request:

curl -X PATCH --data-binary @JSON_FILE_NAME \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME?fields=retentionPolicy"

Where:

JSON_FILE_NAME is the path for the JSON file that you created in Step 2.
BUCKET_NAME is the name of the relevant bucket. For example, my-bucket.

XML API

The XML API cannot be used to set or remove a retention policy on an existing bucket. It can only be used to include a retention policy with a new bucket.

Lock a bucket

To lock a bucket and permanently restrict edits to the bucket's retention policy:

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Storage Buckets page.

Go to Buckets
In the list of buckets, click the name of the bucket that you want to lock the retention policy for.
Select the Protection tab near the top of the page.
In the Retention policy section, click the Lock button.

The Lock retention policy? dialog box appears.
Read the Permanent notice.
In the Bucket name text box, type in the name of your bucket.
Click Lock policy.

To learn how to get detailed error information about failed Cloud Storage operations in the Google Cloud console, see Troubleshooting.

Command line

Use the gcloud storage buckets update command with the --lock-retention-period flag:

gcloud storage buckets update gs://BUCKET_NAME --lock-retention-period

Where BUCKET_NAME is the name of the relevant bucket. For example, my-bucket.

If successful, the response looks similar to the following example:

Updating gs://my-bucket/...
  Completed 1

Client libraries

C++

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C++ API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

namespace gcs = ::google::cloud::storage;
using ::google::cloud::StatusOr;
[](gcs::Client client, std::string const& bucket_name) {
  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> original =
      client.GetBucketMetadata(bucket_name);
  if (!original) throw std::move(original).status();

  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> updated_metadata =
      client.LockBucketRetentionPolicy(bucket_name,
                                       original->metageneration());
  if (!updated_metadata) throw std::move(updated_metadata).status();

  if (!updated_metadata->has_retention_policy()) {
    std::cerr << "The bucket " << updated_metadata->name()
              << " does not have a retention policy, even though the"
              << " operation to set it was successful.\n"
              << "This is unexpected, and may indicate that another"
              << " application has modified the bucket concurrently.\n";
    return;
  }

  std::cout << "Retention policy successfully locked for bucket "
            << updated_metadata->name() << "\nNew retention policy is: "
            << updated_metadata->retention_policy()
            << "\nFull metadata: " << *updated_metadata << "\n";
}

C#

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C# API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.


using Google.Cloud.Storage.V1;
using System;

public class LockRetentionPolicySample
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Locks the retention policy of a bucket. This is a one-way process: once a retention
    /// policy is locked, it cannot be shortened, removed or unlocked, although it can
    /// be increased in duration. The lock persists until the bucket is deleted.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="bucketName">The name of the bucket whose retention policy should be locked.</param>
    public bool? LockRetentionPolicy(string bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name")
    {
        var storage = StorageClient.Create();
        var bucket = storage.GetBucket(bucketName);
        storage.LockBucketRetentionPolicy(bucketName, bucket.Metageneration.Value);
        bucket = storage.GetBucket(bucketName);
        Console.WriteLine($"Retention policy for {bucketName} is now locked");
        Console.WriteLine($"Retention policy effective as of {bucket.RetentionPolicy.EffectiveTime}");

        return bucket.RetentionPolicy.IsLocked;
    }
}

Go

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
)

// lockRetentionPolicy locks bucket retention policy.
func lockRetentionPolicy(w io.Writer, bucketName string) error {
	// bucketName := "bucket-name"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := storage.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("storage.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*50)
	defer cancel()

	bucket := client.Bucket(bucketName)
	attrs, err := bucket.Attrs(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Attrs: %w", bucketName, err)
	}

	conditions := storage.BucketConditions{
		MetagenerationMatch: attrs.MetaGeneration,
	}
	if err := bucket.If(conditions).LockRetentionPolicy(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).LockRetentionPolicy: %w", bucketName, err)
	}

	lockedAttrs, err := bucket.Attrs(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Attrs: lockedAttrs: %w", bucketName, err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Retention policy for %v is now locked\n", bucketName)
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Retention policy effective as of %v\n", lockedAttrs.RetentionPolicy.EffectiveTime)
	return nil
}

Java

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.


import com.google.cloud.storage.Bucket;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;
import java.util.Date;

public class LockRetentionPolicy {
  public static void lockRetentionPolicy(String projectId, String bucketName)
      throws StorageException {
    // The ID of your GCP project
    // String projectId = "your-project-id";

    // The ID of your GCS bucket
    // String bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name";

    Storage storage = StorageOptions.newBuilder().setProjectId(projectId).build().getService();
    Bucket bucket =
        storage.get(bucketName, Storage.BucketGetOption.fields(Storage.BucketField.METAGENERATION));
    Bucket lockedBucket =
        bucket.lockRetentionPolicy(Storage.BucketTargetOption.metagenerationMatch());

    System.out.println("Retention period for " + bucketName + " is now locked");
    System.out.println(
        "Retention policy effective as of " + new Date(lockedBucket.getRetentionEffectiveTime()));
  }
}

Node.js

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// The ID of your GCS bucket
// const bucketName = 'your-unique-bucket-name';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');

// Creates a client
const storage = new Storage();

async function lockRetentionPolicy() {
  // Gets the current metageneration value for the bucket, required by
  // lock_retention_policy
  const [unlockedMetadata] = await storage.bucket(bucketName).getMetadata();

  // Warning: Once a retention policy is locked, it cannot be unlocked. The
  // retention period can only be increased
  const [lockedMetadata] = await storage
    .bucket(bucketName)
    .lock(unlockedMetadata.metageneration);
  console.log(`Retention policy for ${bucketName} is now locked`);
  console.log(
    `Retention policy effective as of ${lockedMetadata.retentionPolicy.effectiveTime}`
  );

  return lockedMetadata;
}

lockRetentionPolicy().catch(console.error);

PHP

For more information, see the Cloud Storage PHP API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

use Google\Cloud\Storage\StorageClient;

/**
 * Locks a bucket's retention policy.
 *
 * @param string $bucketName The name of your Cloud Storage bucket.
 *        (e.g. 'my-bucket')
 */
function lock_retention_policy(string $bucketName): void
{
    $storage = new StorageClient();
    $bucket = $storage->bucket($bucketName);
    $bucket->reload();
    $bucket->lockRetentionPolicy();
    printf('Bucket %s retention policy locked' . PHP_EOL, $bucketName);
}

Python

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

from google.cloud import storage


def lock_retention_policy(bucket_name):
    """Locks the retention policy on a given bucket"""
    # bucket_name = "my-bucket"

    storage_client = storage.Client()
    # get_bucket gets the current metageneration value for the bucket,
    # required by lock_retention_policy.
    bucket = storage_client.get_bucket(bucket_name)

    # Warning: Once a retention policy is locked it cannot be unlocked
    # and retention period can only be increased.
    bucket.lock_retention_policy()

    print(f"Retention policy for {bucket_name} is now locked")
    print(
        f"Retention policy effective as of {bucket.retention_policy_effective_time}"
    )

Ruby

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Ruby API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

def lock_retention_policy bucket_name:
  # The ID of your GCS bucket
  # bucket_name = "your-unique-bucket-name"

  require "google/cloud/storage"

  storage = Google::Cloud::Storage.new
  bucket  = storage.bucket bucket_name

  # Warning: Once a retention policy is locked it cannot be unlocked
  # and retention period can only be increased.
  # Uses Bucket#metageneration as a precondition.
  bucket.lock_retention_policy!

  puts "Retention policy for #{bucket_name} is now locked."
  puts "Retention policy effective as of #{bucket.retention_effective_at}."
end

REST APIs

JSON API

Have gcloud CLI installed and initialized , which lets you generate an access token for the Authorization header.

Use cURL to call the JSON API with a POST Bucket request:
```
curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
"https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME/lockRetentionPolicy?ifMetagenerationMatch=BUCKET_METAGENERATION_NUMBER"
```
Where:
- BUCKET_NAME is the name of the relevant bucket. For example, my-bucket.
- BUCKET_METAGENERATION_NUMBER is the metageneration value for the bucket. For example, 8. You can find the metageneration value for your bucket by calling the JSON API with a GET Bucket request.

XML API

The XML API cannot be used to lock a bucket. Use one of the other Cloud Storage tools, such as the Google Cloud console, instead.

View a bucket's retention policy and lock status

To view what, if any, retention policy is set on a bucket and whether that retention policy is locked:

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Storage Buckets page.

Go to Buckets
Click the name of the bucket whose status you want to view.

If a bucket has a retention policy, the retention period is displayed in the Protection field for the bucket. If the retention policy is not locked, a lock icon appears next to the retention period in an unlocked state. If the retention policy is locked, a lock icon appears next to the retention period in a locked state.

Command line

Use the gcloud storage buckets describe command with the --format flag:

gcloud storage buckets describe gs://BUCKET_NAME --format="default(retention_policy)"

Where BUCKET_NAME is the name of the bucket whose retention policy you want to view. For example, my-bucket.

If successful and a retention policy exists for the bucket, the response is similar to the following:

retention_policy:
  effectiveTime: '2022-10-04T18:51:22.161000+00:00'
  retentionPeriod: '129600'

If successful and a retention policy does not exist for the bucket, the response is similar to the following:

null

Client libraries

C++

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C++ API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

namespace gcs = ::google::cloud::storage;
using ::google::cloud::StatusOr;
[](gcs::Client client, std::string const& bucket_name) {
  StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> bucket_metadata =
      client.GetBucketMetadata(bucket_name);
  if (!bucket_metadata) throw std::move(bucket_metadata).status();

  if (!bucket_metadata->has_retention_policy()) {
    std::cout << "The bucket " << bucket_metadata->name()
              << " does not have a retention policy set.\n";
    return;
  }

  std::cout << "The bucket " << bucket_metadata->name()
            << " retention policy is set to "
            << bucket_metadata->retention_policy() << "\n";
}

C#

For more information, see the Cloud Storage C# API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.


using Google.Cloud.Storage.V1;
using System;
using static Google.Apis.Storage.v1.Data.Bucket;

public class GetRetentionPolicySample
{
    public RetentionPolicyData GetRetentionPolicy(string bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name")
    {
        var storage = StorageClient.Create();
        var bucket = storage.GetBucket(bucketName);

        if (bucket.RetentionPolicy != null)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Retention policy:");
            Console.WriteLine($"Period: {bucket.RetentionPolicy.RetentionPeriod}");
            Console.WriteLine($"Effective time: {bucket.RetentionPolicy.EffectiveTime}");
            bool isLocked = bucket.RetentionPolicy.IsLocked ?? false;
            Console.WriteLine($"Policy locked: {isLocked}");
        }
        return bucket.RetentionPolicy;
    }
}

Go

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
)

// getRetentionPolicy gets bucket retention policy.
func getRetentionPolicy(w io.Writer, bucketName string) (*storage.BucketAttrs, error) {
	// bucketName := "bucket-name"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := storage.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("storage.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*10)
	defer cancel()

	attrs, err := client.Bucket(bucketName).Attrs(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Bucket(%q).Attrs: %w", bucketName, err)
	}
	if attrs.RetentionPolicy != nil {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Retention Policy")
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "period: %v\n", attrs.RetentionPolicy.RetentionPeriod)
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "effective time: %v\n", attrs.RetentionPolicy.EffectiveTime)
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "policy locked: %v\n", attrs.RetentionPolicy.IsLocked)
	}
	return attrs, nil
}

Java

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.


import com.google.cloud.storage.Bucket;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageException;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;
import java.util.Date;

public class GetRetentionPolicy {
  public static void getRetentionPolicy(String projectId, String bucketName)
      throws StorageException {
    // The ID of your GCP project
    // String projectId = "your-project-id";

    // The ID of your GCS bucket
    // String bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name";

    Storage storage = StorageOptions.newBuilder().setProjectId(projectId).build().getService();
    Bucket bucket =
        storage.get(
            bucketName, Storage.BucketGetOption.fields(Storage.BucketField.RETENTION_POLICY));

    System.out.println("Retention Policy for " + bucketName);
    System.out.println("Retention Period: " + bucket.getRetentionPeriod());
    if (bucket.retentionPolicyIsLocked() != null && bucket.retentionPolicyIsLocked()) {
      System.out.println("Retention Policy is locked");
    }
    if (bucket.getRetentionEffectiveTime() != null) {
      System.out.println("Effective Time: " + new Date(bucket.getRetentionEffectiveTime()));
    }
  }
}

Node.js

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// The ID of your GCS bucket
// const bucketName = 'your-unique-bucket-name';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');

// Creates a client
const storage = new Storage();

async function getRetentionPolicy() {
  const [metadata] = await storage.bucket(bucketName).getMetadata();
  if (metadata.retentionPolicy) {
    const retentionPolicy = metadata.retentionPolicy;
    console.log('A retention policy exists!');
    console.log(`Period: ${retentionPolicy.retentionPeriod}`);
    console.log(`Effective time: ${retentionPolicy.effectiveTime}`);
    if (retentionPolicy.isLocked) {
      console.log('Policy is locked');
    } else {
      console.log('Policy is unlocked');
    }
  }
}

getRetentionPolicy().catch(console.error);

PHP

For more information, see the Cloud Storage PHP API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

use Google\Cloud\Storage\StorageClient;

/**
 * Gets a bucket's retention policy.
 *
 * @param string $bucketName The name of your Cloud Storage bucket.
 *        (e.g. 'my-bucket')
 */
function get_retention_policy(string $bucketName): void
{
    $storage = new StorageClient();
    $bucket = $storage->bucket($bucketName);
    $bucket->reload();

    printf('Retention Policy for ' . $bucketName . PHP_EOL);
    printf('Retention Period: ' . $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']['retentionPeriod'] . PHP_EOL);
    if (array_key_exists('isLocked', $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']) &&
        $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']['isLocked']) {
        printf('Retention Policy is locked' . PHP_EOL);
    }
    if ($bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']['effectiveTime']) {
        printf('Effective Time: ' . $bucket->info()['retentionPolicy']['effectiveTime'] . PHP_EOL);
    }
}

Python

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

from google.cloud import storage


def get_retention_policy(bucket_name):
    """Gets the retention policy on a given bucket"""
    # bucket_name = "my-bucket"

    storage_client = storage.Client()
    bucket = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name)
    bucket.reload()

    print(f"Retention Policy for {bucket_name}")
    print(f"Retention Period: {bucket.retention_period}")
    if bucket.retention_policy_locked:
        print("Retention Policy is locked")

    if bucket.retention_policy_effective_time:
        print(
            f"Effective Time: {bucket.retention_policy_effective_time}"
        )

Ruby

For more information, see the Cloud Storage Ruby API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Storage, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

def get_retention_policy bucket_name:
  # The ID of your GCS bucket
  # bucket_name = "your-unique-bucket-name"

  require "google/cloud/storage"

  storage = Google::Cloud::Storage.new
  bucket  = storage.bucket bucket_name

  puts "Retention policy:"
  puts "period: #{bucket.retention_period}"
  puts "effective time: #{bucket.retention_effective_at}"
  puts "policy locked: #{bucket.retention_policy_locked?}"
end

REST APIs

JSON API

Have gcloud CLI installed and initialized , which lets you generate an access token for the Authorization header.

Use cURL to call the JSON API with a GET Bucket request that includes the desired fields:

curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
"https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME?fields=retentionPolicy"

Where BUCKET_NAME is the name of the relevant bucket. For example, my-bucket.

If the bucket has a retention policy set on it, the response looks like the following example:

{
  "retentionPolicy": {
      "retentionPeriod": "TIME_IN_SECONDS",
      "effectiveTime": "DATETIME",
      "isLocked": "BOOLEAN"
   },
}

XML API

The XML API cannot be used to view the retention policy on a bucket. Use one of the other Cloud Storage tools, such as the Google Cloud console, instead.

What's next

Learn more about retention policies.
Learn how to use object holds.
Learn about Object Lifecycle Management, which can automatically delete files once they reach their retention period.