Life cycle configuration in Object Storage

Last updated on Jul 21, 2026

Life cycle configurations let you to automatically expire or delete objects in a bucket based on age, prefix, or tag filters. Each life cycle configuration is scoped to a single bucket and can contain up to 1000 rules.

Configuration format

Life cycle configurations use standard S3 XML format. Set the configuration on a bucket using the AWS CLI put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration command or the S3-compatible API.

Supported elements

Rule

Each <Rule> element contains the following child elements:

Element	Required	Description
`<ID>`	Yes	Unique identifier for the rule within the configuration. Maximum 255 characters.
`<Filter>`	Yes	Specifies which objects the rule applies to. Use an empty `<Filter/>` to apply the rule to all objects.
`<Status>`	Yes	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. Disabled rules are inactive and no actions are performed.
`<Expiration>`	No	Defines when the current version of an object expires.
`<NonCurrentVersionExpiration>`	No	Defines when non-current versions of an object expire (versioned buckets only).

Filter

The <Filter> element supports the following child elements:

Element	Description
`<Prefix>`	Matches objects with the specified key prefix.
`<Tag>`	Matches objects with the specified key/value tag. Contains `<Key>` and `<Value>` sub-elements.
`<And>`	Combines multiple filter conditions. Required when using both `<Prefix>` and `<Tag>` together.

An empty <Filter/> applies the rule to all objects in the bucket.

Expiration

The <Expiration> element supports the following child elements:

Element	Description
`<Days>`	Expires objects the specified number of days after their upload date.
`<Date>`	Expires objects on or after the specified date (ISO 8601 format).

`NonCurrentVersionExpiration`

The <NonCurrentVersionExpiration> element applies to non-current object versions in versioned buckets. When versioning is enabled and an object is deleted, the deleted object becomes a non-current version with a delete marker inserted as the current version. This element permanently removes those non-current versions.

Element	Description
`<NoncurrentDays>`	Removes non-current versions the specified number of days after they become non-current.

Constraints

Constraint	Value
Maximum rules per configuration	1000
Deletion delay after expiration	Approximately 10 days
Supported filter combinations	Prefix only, Tag only, Prefix + Tag (using `<And>`)

Example configuration

<LifecycleConfiguration>
  <Rule>
    <ID>expire-old-backups</ID>
    <Filter>
      <Prefix>backups/</Prefix>
    </Filter>
    <Status>Enabled</Status>
    <Expiration>
      <Days>90</Days>
    </Expiration>
  </Rule>
  <Rule>
    <ID>expire-tagged-temp-objects</ID>
    <Filter>
      <And>
        <Prefix>tmp/</Prefix>
        <Tag>
          <Key>env</Key>
          <Value>staging</Value>
        </Tag>
      </And>
    </Filter>
    <Status>Enabled</Status>
    <Expiration>
      <Days>30</Days>
    </Expiration>
  </Rule>
</LifecycleConfiguration>

Configure life cycle policies for Object Storage buckets