DigitalOcean Spaces Lifecycle Rules and Existing Object Handling

Goal

Determine whether DigitalOcean Spaces lifecycle rules can be applied to objects that already exist in a bucket when the rule is created.

Constraints and Uncertainty

Official documentation states that lifecycle rules affect only objects created after the rule is activated, with no explicit option for retroactive application. The Spaces API does not expose a parameter to trigger rule evaluation on existing objects, and neither the control panel nor the doctl CLI provides a flag for this behavior. It remains unclear if this limitation is intentional, a temporary gap, or if a future update will introduce retroactive support.

Specific questions:

• Does the Spaces API currently support any mechanism to apply lifecycle rules to existing objects?
• If not, is there a documented roadmap or planned feature indicating future retroactive capability?
• Are there any supported workarounds (e.g., using the CLI or SDKs) that achieve similar outcomes without violating the current rule‑application behavior?