DoIT Shared Tools - GitLab - Automated deletion of unneeded projects

Posted: 2026-03-06 11:34:31   Expiration: 2026-04-10 12:34:31

On April 6, 2026, some Project Owners and Maintainers will receive a large number of email warnings about pending Project deletions. A two-month grace period will follow. Any action in a Project during the grace period removes it from the deletion list. Projects that are still inactive by early June will be permanently deleted.

The purpose of enabling this feature is to delete Projects that are obsolete and taking up space on the GitLab application server.  Most of these Projects are in the personal spaces of former students and staff. 

The purpose is not to delete any Project that a user or group wants to keep.   

Normally, these notifications will not happen in large batches.  This large batch of messages is a result of enabling inactive Project deletion in GitLab for the first time.  For more about this new policy, see DoIT Shared Tools - GitLab - Deletion of Inactive Projects.  

During 2026, there will be several batches in order to implement this feature for the first time and clean up obsolete projects that are already inactive for 8+ years. 

To exempt any Project from deletion, just take an action in the Project that adds an entry to the Project's Activity log. 

April 6 will be the first of 4 important dates for the roll out of this feature:

Batch deletion date	Projects Inactive since	Email notification	Project deletion
April 6, 2026	January 1, 2017	April 6, 2026	June 6, 2026
July 1, 2026	January 1, 2018	July 1, 2026	September 1, 2026
October 1, 2026	January 1, 2019	October 1, 2026	December 1, 2026
January 1, 2027	January 1, 2020	January 1, 2027	March 1, 2027
After January 1, 2027	7-year rolling window	Project is 7 years inactive	2 months after Email notification

-- Shared Tools: Benjamin Sousa