DigitalOcean Spaces Lifecycle Rules and Existing Object Handling

Direct Answer

DigitalOcean Spaces lifecycle rules do apply to existing objects. The premise in your question—that rules only affect objects created after rule activation—is incorrect. Spaces evaluates lifecycle policies against each object's creation timestamp (or last-modified date for transitions), not against the rule's creation date. Objects that already satisfy the age or prefix criteria when a rule is created become eligible for expiration or transition during the next backend evaluation cycle.

How It Actually Works

• Age-based evaluation: A rule such as "expire objects older than 30 days" matches any object whose LastModified timestamp is more than 30 days in the past, regardless of when the rule was added.
• Asynchronous daily cycle: The Spaces backend evaluates lifecycle rules approximately once per day. There is no immediate execution on rule creation; eligible objects are processed in the next scheduled run.
• No retroactive flag needed: Because the logic is object-age-centric, the S3-compatible API does not expose a "retroactive" parameter, and none is required.

Answers to Your Specific Questions

1. Does the API support a mechanism to apply rules to existing objects?

Yes—implicitly. The standard PutBucketLifecycleConfiguration (or the control panel / doctl equivalent) is sufficient. The backend automatically includes pre-existing objects in its next evaluation.

2. Is there a documented roadmap for future retroactive capability?

Not applicable. The current behavior already covers existing objects. DigitalOcean's public docs and changelog do not mention a separate "retroactive" feature because the existing model handles it.

3. Are there supported workarounds?

No workarounds are necessary. If you need faster verification, you can:

1. Create a test bucket and upload objects with known ages.
2. Apply a rule with a short expiration (e.g., 1 day).
3. Monitor the bucket for 24–48 hours using aws s3 ls or s3cmd to confirm removal of pre-existing objects.

Important Caveats

• Versioning: If versioning is enabled, rules distinguish between current and non-current versions. Ensure your rule targets the intended version state.
• Prefix misconfiguration: A rule with an overly broad prefix (or no prefix) can delete large amounts of existing data. Test in a non-production bucket first.
• Timing: Do not expect instant deletion. The daily evaluation window means objects may persist up to ~24 hours after they become eligible.

Verification Step

Run a one-time test in a disposable bucket:

# Using aws-cli (configured for Spaces endpoint)
aws s3 mb s3://test-lifecycle-bucket --endpoint-url https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
aws s3 cp old-file.txt s3://test-lifecycle-bucket/ --endpoint-url https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
# Wait 24h after rule creation, then:
aws s3 ls s3://test-lifecycle-bucket/ --endpoint-url https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com

If the object disappears, the rule applied retroactively as designed.