Feature Request: Automatic Message Cleanup for GOWS Engine

[bergpinheiro]

Feature Request: Automatic Message Cleanup for GOWS Engine

Summary

Add automatic cleanup of old messages from the gows_messages table in PostgreSQL for all GOWS sessions, configurable via environment variables with cron-based scheduling.

Problem

When using the GOWS engine with PostgreSQL storage, the gows_messages table can grow indefinitely, consuming disk space and potentially impacting database performance. Currently, there's no built-in mechanism to automatically clean up old messages.

Proposed Solution

Implement an automatic cleanup system that:

1. Periodically deletes messages older than a configurable retention period
2. Processes all GOWS sessions automatically
3. Uses cron-based scheduling for flexible execution times
4. Provides detailed logging of cleanup operations

Technical Implementation

New Files

1. src/plus/engines/gows/services/GowsMessageCleanupService.ts

   • Service that handles message cleanup for individual sessions and all sessions
   • Accesses PostgreSQL databases using PsqlStore
   • Deletes messages where timestamp < cutoffDate
   • Returns count of deleted messages

2. src/plus/engines/gows/services/GowsCleanupScheduler.ts

   • Scheduler service that uses cron-parser to schedule cleanup jobs
   • Implements OnModuleInit and OnApplicationShutdown
   • Calculates next execution time based on cron pattern
   • Prevents overlapping executions

3. src/plus/engines/gows/gows.module.ts

   • NestJS module that registers the cleanup services
   • Validates environment variables using Joi
   • Conditionally loads when PostgreSQL is configured

Module Integration

• Add GowsModule to src/plus/app.module.plus.ts with conditional loading when WHATSAPP_SESSIONS_POSTGRESQL_URL is defined
• Export SessionManager and WhatsappConfigService from AppModulePlus for dependency injection

Environment Variables

Number of days to keep messages (default: 90)

WAHA_GOWS_MESSAGE_RETENTION_DAYS=30

Cron pattern for cleanup schedule (default: "0 0 2 * * *" = daily at 2:00 AM)

Format: second minute hour day month day-of-week

WAHA_GOWS_CLEANUP_CRON="0 0 2 * * *"### Cron Pattern Examples

• "0 0 2 * * *" - Every day at 2:00 AM (default)
• "0 30 3 * * *" - Every day at 3:30 AM
• "0 0 */6 * * *" - Every 6 hours
• "0 0 2 * * 0" - Every Sunday at 2:00 AM
• "0 0 2 1 * *" - First day of every month at 2:00 AM

Features

✅ Automatic cleanup for all GOWS sessions
✅ Configurable retention period (days)
✅ Flexible scheduling via cron patterns
✅ Detailed logging of cleanup operations
✅ Error handling per session (doesn't stop if one session fails)
✅ Prevents overlapping executions
✅ Graceful shutdown support

Dependencies

• cron-parser (already in project dependencies)

Logging

The implementation provides detailed logs:

• Scheduler startup with configuration
• Next scheduled execution time
• Cleanup start/completion for each session
• Number of messages deleted per session
• Errors per session (non-blocking)

Example Log Output

[WilliamSantos96]

up +

[oasilap]

+1

[StartecSistemas]

+1

[mcabral2510]

+1

[snot1988]

+1

[devlikepro]

The endpoint to clean any tables would also help as the first thing

POST /api/{session}/store/clean/messages
{
  keep: 30 days
}

and we could add a Cleanup App so you could configure it globally or per session on crontab schedule 🤔

[bergpinheiro]

The endpoint to clean any tables would also help as the first thing

POST /api/{session}/store/clean/messages
{
keep: 30 days
}
and we could add a Cleanup App so you could configure it globally or per session on crontab schedule 🤔

Yes, an endpoint is also a great option. Globally, it would also be a way to automate.

[theeusmartins]

+1

[favuka]

+1

[oasilap]

+1

[Felipewesley69]

+1

[vhiperdev]

+1

[jayveloper]

+1