Prune Orphaned Uploads

Over time your installation may accumulate orphaned files. These are files which remain in the storage/app/ directory but have no matching upload record in the database, for example attachments belonging to tickets which have since been deleted. Orphaned files consume disk space without serving any purpose.

The uploads:prune-orphans command finds these files and deletes them. It checks the following directories:

email_log
exports
public
selfservice
tickets

A file is considered orphaned when there is no upload record in the database with a matching folder and hash (the filename is the upload hash). As a safeguard, files modified within the last 24 hours are never deleted, so uploads still in progress aren't affected.

The command operates on the storage driver configured by FILESYSTEM_DISK. If you've moved your files to an S3 compatible service, as described in Cloud Storage, it prunes the bucket rather than the local storage/app/ directory. Note that on S3 compatible services a directory containing no files is reported as missing and skipped, which is expected and can be ignored.

Usage

We strongly recommend running the command with the --dry-run option the first time. This lists the files which would be removed without deleting anything, so you can review them before proceeding.

Usage on Docker


docker exec -u supportpal supportpal php artisan uploads:prune-orphans --dry-run

Usage on Linux


php artisan uploads:prune-orphans --dry-run

Example Output


Dry-run mode — no files will be deleted.
Orphan: tickets/3bb30c24bfe8db80f5e6aeb814f3dbf2c8ebd7db
Orphan: tickets/6ded3dee83dea6c89e28c6f56dfebbd72407b458
Orphan: tickets/f534bbca61e06961815729907733c3c61ba88380
Found 3 orphaned file(s).

Once you're happy with the list of files reported, run the command again without the --dry-run option to permanently delete them:


php artisan uploads:prune-orphans


Orphan: tickets/3bb30c24bfe8db80f5e6aeb814f3dbf2c8ebd7db
Orphan: tickets/6ded3dee83dea6c89e28c6f56dfebbd72407b458
Orphan: tickets/f534bbca61e06961815729907733c3c61ba88380
Deleted 3 orphaned file(s).

Deleted files can't be recovered by the help desk. Ensure you have a recent backup before running the command without --dry-run.

Usage Options

Option	Description
`--dry-run`	List orphaned files without deleting them.
`--force`	Force the operation to run when in production.

Running in Production

When the help desk is running in the production environment, the command displays the following warning and asks you to confirm before deleting anything:


THIS COMMAND WILL PERMANENTLY DELETE FILES IN THE STORAGE/APP/ DIRECTORY THAT HAVE NO MATCHING UPLOAD DATABASE RECORD. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP BEFORE PROCEEDING!

 Are you sure you want to run this command? (yes/no) [no]

Pass the --force option to skip this prompt. This is required when the command is run without an interactive terminal, such as from a script or scheduled task, otherwise it's cancelled without deleting anything. The prompt isn't shown when using --dry-run, as no files are deleted.


php artisan uploads:prune-orphans --force