Core Concepts
Garbage collection
Retention of versions, tombstones, and orphaned objects.
Because Nodus keeps immutable versions, tombstones, and content-addressed objects, storage would grow forever without a policy. The default policy is defined in ADR-0005 and is configurable per account.
What accumulates
| Kind | Why it exists | Collected when |
|---|---|---|
| File versions | Version history | Beyond the version-count/age limit |
| Tombstones | Soft deletes, so deletes converge | After the tombstone window |
| Orphaned objects | A shard no live version references | After the orphan grace period |
Defaults
- A bounded number of versions per file (and/or a maximum age).
- A tombstone window before permanent purge.
- An orphan grace period before unreferenced objects are removed.
Exact numbers live in the ADR; they can be tuned per account.
Manual control
You don't have to wait for GC:
- Tombstone view — restore a soft-deleted item, or purge it permanently.
- Files — delete a version.
Purge is destructive and propagates to nodes.