[Question]: leftover data

[gudge25]

I recently switched to ENGINE_TYPE=baileys
And I'm wondering if i can safely delete /sessions folder?
as im assuming that it is a leftover data no?

Regards

[gudge25]

2-Question
I noticed new table appear baileys_stored_messages aside from messages table

• Can I delete the messages table ? As I'm using ENGINE_TYPE=baileys now?
• Is there a way to automatically delete messages older than X days from the database?

[rmyndharis]

Both questions, in order.

1. The sessions/ folder holds only whatsapp-web.js login profiles (SESSION_DATA_PATH, default ./data/sessions, one session-<id> directory per session). Baileys credentials live separately under ./data/baileys/<id>. With ENGINE_TYPE=baileys nothing reads sessions/, so deleting it is safe; the only cost is that the whatsapp-web.js logins are gone and switching back means scanning a QR again per session.

2. The two tables. messages is not leftover: it is the engine-neutral store both engines write, and history, search, stats and the dashboard chat view all read it, so dropping it would delete your Baileys history too. baileys_stored_messages is Baileys' internal cache of serialized messages, used to resolve replies, forwards, reactions and deletes after a restart; it is capped per session (BAILEYS_MESSAGE_STORE_LIMIT, default 5000) and needs no manual care.

For automatic cleanup, set MESSAGE_RETENTION_DAYS (new in 0.24.0): messages and finished bulk batches older than the window are deleted at startup and then daily; the default 0 keeps everything.

DELETE /api/sessions/:id removes, in one transaction, the session row plus its messages, batches, chat states, status updates, webhooks, templates, Baileys stored messages, webhook outbox and delivery-failure rows, and integration dead-letter rows, then purges both engines' on-disk credential directories. Kept by design: audit logs, conversation mappings, ingress dedup rows (pruned on their own retention) and the LID mapping cache. Archived media files (opt-in, CHAT_MEDIA_ARCHIVE_ENABLED) are reclaimed by the hourly orphan sweep once their rows are gone.