Tekton Results now supports fine-grained retention policies, allowing you to set different retention periods for `PipelineRun` and top-level `TaskRun` results based on their *namespace, labels, annotations, and status*.

This provides granular control to balance storage costs with compliance and debugging needs. The first policy that a result matches is applied. If no policy matches, the result falls back to the default `maxRetention` period.

The feature is configured by adding a `policies` key to the `tekton-results-config-results-retention-policy` `ConfigMap`.

The Results Retention Policy Agent is configured via the `tekton-results-config-results-retention-policy` ConfigMap.

The following fields are supported:

• `runAt`: Determines when to run the pruning job for the DB. It uses a cron schedule format.
• `defaultRetention`: The *fallback* retention period for how long to keep Results and Records when no specific policy matches. This value does *not* override the retention period of a matching policy; it only applies when no policies match a given Result. This can be a number (e.g., `30`), which is interpreted as days, or a duration string (e.g., `30d`, `24h`). The default is `30d`.
  > *Note:*
  > `maxRetention` is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. If `defaultRetention` is not set, `maxRetention` will be used as the default retention period for backward compatibility.
• `policies`: A list of fine-grained retention policies that allow for more specific control over data retention.

1. 1. 1. Fine-Grained Retention Policies

You can define a list of policies to control retention based on various criteria. The `policies` field in the ConfigMap accepts a YAML string containing a list of policy objects. Each policy has a `name`, a `selector`, and a `retention` period.

When the retention job runs, it evaluates a Result against the policies in the order they are defined. The *first policy that matches* the Result will be applied. If no policies match, the default `defaultRetention` period is used.

1. 1. 1. 1. Policy Fields:

• `name`: A descriptive name for the policy.
• `selector`: Defines the criteria for matching Results. All conditions within a selector are combined with an *AND* logic—a Result must meet all specified criteria (`matchNamespaces`, `matchLabels`, `matchAnnotations`, `matchStatuses`) for the policy to apply. If a particular selector type (e.g., `matchLabels`) is omitted from a policy, it will match all Results for that criterion. For example, a policy without a `matchNamespaces` selector will match Results from any namespace.
    - `matchNamespaces`: A list of namespaces. A Result matches if its namespace is in this list (an *OR* logic is applied to the values in the list).
    - `matchLabels`: A map where the key is a label name and the value is a list of possible label values. A Result must have all the specified label keys, and for each key, its value must be in the provided list (an *OR* logic is applied to the values in the list).
    - `matchAnnotations`: A map where the key is an annotation name and the value is a list of possible annotation values. This works similarly to `matchLabels`.
    - `matchStatuses`: A list of final statuses. A Result matches if its final status is in this list (an *OR* logic is applied to the values in the list). The status is determined by the `reason` field of the primary `Succeeded` condition in the `PipelineRun` or `TaskRun` status. Common values include `Succeeded`, `Failed`, `Cancelled`, `Running`, and `Pending`. For a more comprehensive list of possible status reasons, refer to the [Tekton documentation](https://tekton.dev/docs/pipelines/pipelineruns/#monitoring-execution-status).
• `retention`: The retention period for Results matching this policy. This can be a number (e.g., `7`), which is interpreted as days, or a duration string (e.g., `24h`).

1. 1. 1. 1. Example ConfigMap:
            result:
                disabled: false
                is_external_db: false
                options:
                  configMaps:
                    config-results-retention-policy:
                      data:
                      data:
                      runAt: "0 2 * * *" # Run every day at 2:00 AM
                        defaultRetention: "30d"
                        policies: |
                          - name: "retain-critical-failures-long-term"
                            selector:
                              matchNamespaces:
                                - "production"
                                - "prod-east"
                              matchLabels:
                                "criticality": ["high"]
                              matchStatuses:
                                - "Failed"
                            retention: "180d"
                          - name: "retain-annotated-for-debug"
                            selector:
                              matchAnnotations:
                                "debug/retain": ["true"]
                            retention: "14d"
                          - name: "default-production-policy"
                            selector:
                              matchNamespaces:
                                - "production"
                                - "prod-east"
                            retention: "60d"
                          - name: "short-term-ci-retention"
                            selector:
                              matchNamespaces:
                                - "ci"
                            retention: "7d"
            In this example:
            1. A failed Result in the `production` or `prod-east` namespace with the label `criticality: high` will be kept for *180 days*.
            2. Any Result with the annotation `debug/retain: "true"` will be kept for *14 days*.
            3. Any other Result in the `production` or `prod-east` namespace will be kept for *60 days*.
            4. Any Result in the `ci` namespace will be kept for *7 days*.
            5. All other Results that do not match any of these policies will be kept for the default `defaultRetention` period of *30 days*.