Add a user-facing control for automatic log cleanup

[itsgajendraSingh]

What problem does this address?

There is currently no way for users to configure automatic log cleanup from the admin UI. The only way to enable it is by adding a PHP filter manually, which is not accessible to non-developer site owners.".

What is your proposed solution?

Add a setting in the AI Request Logs screen that lets users choose a log retention period before logs are automatically cleaned up (e.g. 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or keep forever).

[dkotter]

This is one I'd suggest we discuss and come to a consensus before working on a fix for this.

The original PR for Request Logging did have a user-facing setting to choose the log retention period. I purposely requested that be removed for a few reasons:

1. There is already a purge logs button that shows on the logging page so someone can choose to purge logs manually whenever they want, so an additional setting to do that on a fixed interval isn't as necessary
2. While there is a use case for logs to be there for debug purposes (which are more likely to be worth purging) I think a better use case for logs is to use those for longer term comparison. Think how does my usage compare from this month to last month or this year to last year. In that case, you would never want your logs purged
3. We've tried to lean in towards being as user friendly as possible and more or less hide more developer specific things. This means having some functionality hidden behind filters, some functionality hardcoded to what we think is best or some functionality needing to be toggled on via an advanced settings mode

All that said, I'm of the opinion that we don't need to add in a new setting to choose the log retention period and instead can just leave that as a developer-only change (using a filter). But open to other opinions here, noting if we do want this, I'd suggest we look at the original PR as inspiration as it already had this code in place and likely we can bring that back from there.

[itsgajendraSingh]

Thanks for explaining the thinking behind this.

I do have a small concern though, hope it is okay to share. The filter is documented which is great, but most WordPress site owners who use this plugin will probably never come across it. For them the only way to manage logs right now is either keep everything forever or hit Purge and lose it all at once. I was just wondering if that leaves a bit of a gap for non technical users.

I also had one more thing in mind that I wanted to bring up if that is okay. Right now a user's only options are keep everything forever or delete everything at once. For someone who just wants to clean up older data while keeping their recent logs there is no middle ground. What do you think about a simple manual action on the logs screen, something like a "Delete logs older than..." dropdown with options like 30 days, 90 days, 1 year and a delete button next to it? User stays in control, nothing happens automatically and recent logs stay safe.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[i-anubhav-anand]

Thanks for the context, @dkotter — your reasoning makes sense. The "keep forever or purge all" gap is exactly the concern here.

Building on @itsgajendraSingh's suggestion: would a manual, user-initiated "Delete logs older than..." action be acceptable? The key distinction from the original rejected feature:

• No automatic scheduling — no cron, no background cleanup, no retention period setting
• User-initiated, one-time action — sits next to the existing "Purge All Logs" button in the Manage Logs panel
• Threshold is per-action, not persistent — a SelectControl (30 days / 90 days / 1 year) and a "Delete" button; nothing is saved as a setting

This directly addresses your points: (1) it extends the existing manual purge flow rather than adding automation, (2) long-term logs are never touched unless the user explicitly acts, and (3) it's surfaced in the UI but requires intentional user action each time.

If this direction sounds acceptable, I'm happy to implement it. If you'd still prefer to keep this behind a developer filter only, I'll leave it there — just wanted to get a clear signal before writing any code.

[dkotter]

@itsgajendraSingh

For them the only way to manage logs right now is either keep everything forever or hit Purge and lose it all at once. I was just wondering if that leaves a bit of a gap for non technical users.

Is it a gap, maybe, but it's also not something we've gotten any requests for. I'm hesitant to spend time on something that may not ever get used (but again, that's just my opinion and I could be wrong on how common a desire this is).

What do you think about a simple manual action on the logs screen, something like a "Delete logs older than..." dropdown with options like 30 days, 90 days, 1 year and a delete button next to it? User stays in control, nothing happens automatically and recent logs stay safe.

If you want to work on a PR for this, I'd be happy to review and test. May be best to remove the Purge All button and replace with this dropdown and have All be an option in there, maybe? Either way, happy to review.

@i-anubhav-anand Your comment seems to be the same as what @itsgajendraSingh has already proposed, unless I'm missing something? I'd suggest coordinating with them and if they don't want to pick this up, feel free to yourself.

[itsgajendraSingh]

Thanks @dkotter for the clarification. I actually haven't started working on this yet since it was still in the discussion phase, and I wanted to avoid doing work before we had a clear direction.

If @i-anubhav-anand wants to pick this up, I'm happy for them to take it. Otherwise, I'd be happy to put together a PR following the approach discussed here.

[i-anubhav-anand]

Thanks @itsgajendraSingh — I'll pick this up.

@dkotter to confirm the approach: replace the existing "Purge All Logs" button with a single dropdown ("Older than 30 days / 90 days / 1 year / All logs") and a Delete button with the same confirmation flow. Nothing persistent, all manual. I'll open the PR against develop.

[i-anubhav-anand]

PR is up: #735. Implemented the approach from above — replaced "Purge All Logs" with a dropdown (Older than 30 / 90 / 365 days / All logs) + Delete button. Nothing persistent, all manual.