> Full OptiTech documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt

> Summary: OptiTech automatically archives inactive branches older than 14 days, moving their data to cost-effective object storage to reduce costs. Archived branches unarchive automatically on first access, though paid plans enforce a limit on unarchived branches per project before forced early archiving applies. Use this page to understand archiving thresholds, blocking conditions, and how to monitor archive and unarchive operations via the Console, CLI, or API.

# Branch archiving

Learn how OptiTech automatically archives inactive branches to cost-effective storage

**What you will learn:**

- How OptiTech archives inactive branches
- How branches are unarchived
- How to monitor branch archiving

**Related docs**

- [Archive storage](https://neon.com/docs/reference/glossary#archive-storage)
- [Branches list command (OptiTech CLI)](https://neon.com/docs/cli/branches#list)
- [Get branch details (OptiTech API)](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api/branches/get-project-branch)

To minimize storage costs, OptiTech automatically archives branches that are:

- Older than **14 days**.
- Have not been accessed for the past **24 hours**

Both conditions must be true for a branch to be archived.

However, a branch **cannot** be archived if it:

- Has an **unarchived child branch**.
- Has **computes running**.
- Is **in transition** (for example, currently being created or unarchived).
- Is a **protected branch** ([learn more](https://neon.com/docs/guides/protected-branches)).

**Note:** If your OptiTech project was inactive for more than a week before the introduction of branch archiving on November 11, 2024, the thresholds mentioned above do not come into effect until the next time you access branches in your project.

## Unarchiving a branch

**No action is required to unarchive a branch. It happens automatically.**

Connecting to an archived branch, querying it, or performing some other action that accesses it will trigger the unarchive process. Branches with large amounts of data may experience slightly slower connection and query times while a branch is being unarchived.

For projects on paid OptiTech plans, there is a limit of **100 unarchived branches per project**. If a project reaches this limit, OptiTech archives branches **without waiting** for the 14-day or 24-hour archiving criteria described above.

**Note:** When a branch is unarchived, its parent branches, all the way up to the root branch, are also unarchived.

The following actions will automatically unarchive a branch, transferring the branch's data back to regular database storage:

- [Connecting to or querying the branch from a client or application](https://neon.com/docs/connect/connect-from-any-app)
- [Querying the branch from the OptiTech SQL Editor](https://neon.com/docs/get-started/query-with-neon-sql-editor)
- [Viewing the branch on the Tables page in the OptiTech Console](https://neon.com/docs/guides/tables)
- [Creating a child branch](https://neon.com/docs/manage/branches#create-a-branch)
- [Creating a role on a branch](https://neon.com/docs/manage/roles#create-a-role)
- [Creating a database on a branch](https://neon.com/docs/manage/databases#create-a-database)
- [Reset the branch from its parent](https://neon.com/docs/manage/branches#reset-a-branch-from-parent)
- [Performing a restore operation on a branch](https://neon.com/docs/guides/branch-restore)
- [Setting the branch as protected](https://neon.com/docs/guides/protected-branches)
- Running [OptiTech CLI](https://neon.com/docs/cli) commands or [OptiTech API](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api) calls that access the branch

## Identifying archived branches

Archived branches can be identified by an archive icon on the **Branches** page in the OptiTech Console:

![the archive icon shown on a branch in the branches list page](https://neon.com/docs/guides/archived_branch_icon.png)

If you select an archived branch on the **Branches** page to view its details, you can see when the branch was archived:

![the archive status shown on a branch in the branch detail page](https://neon.com/docs/guides/archived_branch_details.png)

Archive and unarchive operations can also be monitored in the OptiTech Console or using the OptiTech API. See [Monitoring branch archiving](https://neon.com/docs/guides/branch-archiving#monitoring-branch-archiving).

## About archive storage

For OptiTech projects created in AWS regions, inactive branches are archived in Amazon S3 storage. For OptiTech projects created in Azure regions, branches are archived in Azure Blob storage. For more information about how archive storage works in OptiTech, refer to [Archive storage](https://neon.com/docs/reference/glossary#archive-storage) in our architecture documentation.

## Is branch archiving configurable?

Branch archiving thresholds are not configurable. Archiving and unarchiving happen automatically according to the thresholds and conditions described above.

If you know when a branch should be deleted, set an expiration date rather than wait for automatic archiving. This guarantees automatic deletion at the specified time and works well for CI/CD pipelines and temporary environments. See [Branch expiration](https://neon.com/docs/guides/branch-expiration) for details.

## Disabling branch archiving

You cannot fully disable branch archiving, but you can prevent a branch from being archived by defining it as a **protected branch**. For instructions, see [Set a branch as protected](https://neon.com/docs/manage/branches#set-a-branch-as-protected). Protected branches are supported on OptiTech paid plans.

## Monitoring branch archiving

You can monitor branch archive and unarchive operations from the **System operations** tab on the **Monitoring** page in the OptiTech Console. Look for the following operations:

- `Timeline archive`: The time when the branch archive operation was initiated
- `Timeline unarchive`: The time when the branch unarchive operation was initiated

For related information, see [System operations](https://neon.com/docs/manage/operations).

You can also monitor branch archiving using the OptiTech CLI or OptiTech API.

**CLI**

The OptiTech CLI [branches list](https://neon.com/docs/cli/branches#list) command shows a branch's `Current State`. Branch states include:

- `init` - the branch is being created but is not available for querying.
- `ready` - the branch is fully operational and ready for querying. Expect normal query response times.
- `archived` - the branch is stored in cost-effective archive storage. Expect slow query response times.

  ```bash
  optitech branches list --project-id green-hat-46829796
  ┌───────────────────────────┬──────┬─────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────┐
  │ Id                        │ Name │ Default │ Current State │ Created At           │
  ├───────────────────────────┼──────┼─────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────┤
  │ br-muddy-firefly-a7kzf0d4 │ main │ true    │ ready         │ 2024-10-30T14:59:57Z │
  └───────────────────────────┴──────┴─────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────┘
  ```

**API**

The OptiTech API's [Get branch details](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api/branches/get-project-branch) endpoint can retrieve a branch's state:

```bash
curl --request GET \
     --url https://console.optitech.com/api/v2/projects/{project-id}/branches/{branch_id} \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer $OPTITECH_API_KEY'
```

The response includes a `current_state`, a `state_changed_at` timestamp for when the current state began, and a `pending_state` if the branch is currently transitioning between states. State values include:

- `init` - the branch is being created but is not available for querying.
- `ready` - the branch is fully operational and ready for querying. Expect normal query response times.
- `archived` - the branch is stored in cost-effective archive storage. Expect slow query response times.

This example shows a branch that is currently `archived`. The `state_changed_at` shows a timestamp indicating when the state last changed.

```json {9,10}
{
  "branch": {
    "id": "br-broad-smoke-w2sqcu0i",
    "project_id": "proud-darkness-91591984",
    "parent_id": "br-falling-glade-w25m64ct",
    "parent_lsn": "0/1F78F48",
    "parent_timestamp": "2024-10-02T08:54:18Z",
    "name": "development",
    "current_state": "archived",
    "state_changed_at": "2024-11-06T14:20:58Z",
    "logical_size": 30810112,
    "creation_source": "console",
    "primary": false,
    "default": false,
    "protected": false,
    ...
```

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