> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pilotstatus.com.br/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Data Retention & PII Modes

> Control how long Pilot Status stores message content per number: STORE_INDEFINITE, STORE_X_DAYS, or RELAY_ONLY — webhooks and Chatwoot keep working regardless.

Pilot Status lets you control how long sensitive data (PII) is stored. There are two independent layers:

1. **API-key-level retention** — how long outbound message logs keep PII.
2. **Per-number PII mode** — whether inbound/outbound chat messages and conversations are stored at all.

## API-key-level retention

Configured per API key on the **API Keys** page (`/api-keys`):

* `retentionDays > 0` — PII in outbound message logs is kept for up to N days.
* `retentionDays = 0` — PII is not persisted.

Even with retention off, webhook events are still delivered — sensitive fields (e.g. `destinationNumber`, `content`) may be empty, but IDs, timestamps, status, and tracking metadata remain.

## Per-number PII mode

Each WhatsApp number is configured independently with one of three modes (set on the number's settings in the dashboard):

| Mode               | Behavior                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `STORE_INDEFINITE` | **(Default)** All inbound and outbound chat messages and conversations are stored indefinitely.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| `STORE_X_DAYS`     | Messages and conversations are stored only for the last N days (`piiRetentionDays`, required integer > 0). A daily job hard-deletes chat records older than the cutoff and redacts PII from older send-log entries.                                                                                             |
| `RELAY_ONLY`       | **Nothing is stored.** Inbound messages are still relayed — webhooks fire and the Chatwoot integration keeps working — but no conversation or chat record is created and inbound media is not re-hosted. Outbound log rows are kept for billing/status only, with `null` payload and blank `destinationNumber`. |

### Effect on the dashboard

| Surface | `STORE_INDEFINITE` | `STORE_X_DAYS` | `RELAY_ONLY`                                             |
| ------- | ------------------ | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/chat` | Full history       | Last N days    | Empty + "Messages are not stored for this number" banner |
| `/logs` | Full history       | Last N days    | Empty + banner                                           |

### Effect on v1 read endpoints

`GET /v1/conversations`, `GET /v1/messages/unread`, and `GET /v1/messages/group` apply the same gate:

| Mode               | Behavior                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `STORE_INDEFINITE` | Normal results.                                                                                                                |
| `STORE_X_DAYS`     | Only records within the window — for date-range queries the effective lower bound is `max(startDate, now − piiRetentionDays)`. |
| `RELAY_ONLY`       | Empty list with `{ "total": 0, "notice": "PII_RELAY_ONLY" }`.                                                                  |

## Forwarding is always active

Regardless of PII mode, these always work:

* Outbound **webhooks** (delivery events and inbound events)
* The **Chatwoot integration** (receiving and replying)
* **Sending** messages

Only **storage and read-back** are affected.

## Related

* [Webhooks](/concepts/webhooks)
* [Chatwoot integration](/integrations/chatwoot)