Chat History Retention per Member Tier

Summary: The Chat History Retention Settings per Member Tier feature enables administrators to establish automated, tiered lifecycle policies for conversation histories generated by the Antimanual AI Assistant.

Instead of applying a global blanket deletion or retaining records indefinitely, administrators can define data retention windows (measured in months) tied directly to a user’s membership tier or WordPress user role. Conversations older than the configured threshold are automatically purged in the background via scheduled daily tasks, keeping database overhead low and complying with privacy and data protection frameworks.

2. Key Benefits

3. Supported Membership Systems

Antimanual automatically detects your active membership architecture. If no dedicated membership plugin is installed, it gracefully falls back to native WordPress roles:

• Paid Memberships Pro (PMPro): Detects all active membership levels.
• MemberPress: Detects configured membership plans.
• WooCommerce Memberships: Detects custom membership plans.
• Standard WordPress Roles: Falls back to Subscriber, Customer, Contributor, Author, Editor, and Administrator roles.

4. Step-by-Step Configuration Guide

Follow these steps to set up and manage retention policies for your site:

Step 1: Access the Retention Settings

1. Log in to your WordPress Administration Dashboard.
2. In the left-hand navigation menu, navigate to Antimanual (or AI Assistant).
3. Select Chat History Retention from the sub-menu.[!NOTE]
   This page is only visible if your site is activated with a Pro Max license or currently within the 14-day Pro Max Trial.

Step 2: Review Detected Member Tiers

Upon loading, the interface will display a table containing all detected member roles and plans active on your site. Each row displays:

• Membership Plan / Role Name: The display name of the tier.
• Retention Period (Months): A numeric input field where you define the storage duration.

Step 3: Configure Retention Values

For each role or tier, specify how long conversations should be kept:

• Enter a positive integer (1 to 120): Automatically deletes conversations older than that number of months for users belonging to this tier.
• Enter 0 (or leave default): Keeps conversations forever (permanent retention; no automatic deletion will take place).

Example Strategy:

• Free / Subscriber Tier: Set to 1 or 3 months (saves database space, incentivizes upgrading).
• Silver Member: Set to 6 or 12 months.
• Gold / VIP Member / Administrator: Set to 0 (Keep conversations permanently).

Step 4: Save Changes

1. Once all desired tiers have their values assigned, click the primary Save Settings button in the top-right corner.
2. A green confirmation notice will appear confirming the retention rules have been updated.

Step 5: (Optional) Execute an Immediate Manual Cleanup

Automatic deletion executes every 24 hours. If you wish to immediately enforce newly updated rules without waiting for the next cron cycle:

1. Click the Run Cleanup Now button located at the top-right of the screen.
2. A confirmation prompt will appear outlining that expired conversations will be permanently deleted.
3. Click Confirm.
4. The system will process the purge immediately and display a completion message indicating how many conversations were cleaned up.

5. Important Operational Details & Edge Cases

[!WARNING]
Permanent Deletion: Conversations deleted by the retention manager are permanently purged from the database and cannot be recovered via the WordPress Trash. Maintain regular database backups if historical records are mission-critical.

[!IMPORTANT]
Dynamic Role Evaluation: Retention policies are evaluated dynamically at the time the cleanup job runs, based on the user’s current active membership tier—not their tier at the time the conversation was initiated. If a user downgrades, their past conversations will be subject to the retention policy of their new tier on the subsequent cleanup cycle.

[!NOTE]
Guest & Anonymous Chats: Chats initiated by anonymous visitors (not attached to a registered WordPress account) are exempt from tier-based deletion rules and will not be purged by this feature.

6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How does the system determine the age of a conversation?

A: Age is calculated from the conversation’s last updated timestamp (updated_at or created_at). Active dialogues that continue over time will not be prematurely deleted.

Q: When does the automated cleanup run?

A: Antimanual schedules a recurring WordPress Cron (atml_daily_chat_retention_cleanup) once daily. You can inspect the exact scheduled time directly on the Chat History Retention page next to the Next Scheduled Cleanup indicator.

Q: What happens if a membership plugin is deactivated?

A: If you switch or deactivate a membership plugin, Antimanual safely switches back to listing standard WordPress user roles. Previously saved custom plan rules remain stored harmlessly and will reactivate if the plugin is re-enabled.

Q: Does cleanup cause server timeouts on large databases?

A: No. Cleanup runs in batches of 200 records per execution cycle to prevent memory overconsumption, slow queries, or script execution timeouts.