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Every sample on Strand AI has an expiration: the date it will move to Trash. Trash holds samples for 7 days, after which they are permanently deleted. You can set a custom expiration on any sample, or turn expiration off entirely.

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Org default expiration

Every org has a default expiration window (in days). Owners and admins set it from Settings → Sample expiration. When you upload a sample, it inherits this default. The setting is off by default, so samples never expire until an owner or admin sets a policy.
Changing the org default updates expiration on samples that are still on the org default. It leaves samples with a custom expiration unchanged.

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What happens when a sample expires

When a sample expires, it moves to Trash. Trash holds samples for 7 days. During that window, you can restore them from the Trash tab on the Samples page. After 7 days, samples in Trash are permanently deleted, including all marker predictions. Billing history is retained.

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Per-sample expiration

You can set a custom expiration on any sample you can edit (sample creator, org owner/admin, or Strand admin). Three modes:
  • Expire on a specific date: the sample expires on the date you pick.
  • Never expire: the sample has no expiration date and is unaffected by future org-policy changes.
  • Use org default: clears the custom expiration and follows the current org policy.
Custom expirations (both “Expire on” and “Never expire”) survive future org-policy changes. Samples on the org default move with the policy.

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Restoring from Trash

Open the Samples page and switch to the Trash tab. Click Restore on any sample within the 7-day window. Restoring brings the sample back to the active list and extends its expiration so it isn’t immediately re-trashed. Samples past the 7-day Trash window are gone and cannot be restored.

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Permissions

ActionAllowed for
Change org default expirationOrg owner · org admin (via Settings → Sample expiration)
Set per-sample expirationSample creator · org owner/admin · Strand admin
Bulk set expiration (≤ 500)Sample creator · org owner/admin · Strand admin
Restore from TrashSample creator · org owner/admin · Strand admin

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API examples

# Set a sample to never expire.
curl -X PATCH "https://app.strandai.com/api/v1/samples/$SAMPLE_ID/expiration" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STRAND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"expiresAt": null, "reason": "Active research project"}'

# Bulk: set 50 samples to expire on a fixed date.
curl -X PATCH "https://app.strandai.com/api/v1/samples/expiration" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STRAND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sampleIds": ["...", "..."], "expiresAt": "2026-12-31T00:00:00Z"}'

# Restore a sample from Trash within the 7-day window.
curl -X POST "https://app.strandai.com/api/v1/samples/$SAMPLE_ID/restore" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STRAND_API_KEY"

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Email notifications

Two expiration-related emails are sent (both opt-out under Account → Email preferences):
  • Weekly digest: Mondays at 13:00 UTC. One email per org owner/admin listing samples that expire in the next 7 days.
  • Policy-change notice: sent whenever an owner or admin shortens the org expiration policy and the change creates near-term expirations (< 30 days). Goes to every org member so they can set a custom expiration on samples they need to keep.