[pull] develop from baserow:develop

.env.example

@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ DATABASE_NAME=baserow
 # BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS=
 # BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS=
 # BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=
+# BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=
 # BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES=
 # BASEROW_EXTRA_ALLOWED_HOSTS=
 # ADDITIONAL_APPS=

backend/src/baserow/config/settings/base.py

@@ -947,6 +947,9 @@ def __setitem__(self, key, value):
 AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES = int(
     os.getenv("BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES", 200)
 )
+AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS = int(
+    os.getenv("BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS", 2)
+)
 AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES = int(
     os.getenv("BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES", 60)
 )

backend/src/baserow/contrib/automation/workflows/handler.py

@@ -859,7 +859,10 @@ def clear_old_history(self) -> None:
         Clears any old history entries across all workflows.
 
         It will delete any history entries that are older than MAX_HISTORY_DAYS
-        and only keep the most recent MAX_HISTORY_ENTRIES entries.
+        and only keep the most recent MAX_HISTORY_ENTRIES entries, but only for
+        entries older than MIN_RETENTION_DAYS. This ensures that recent history
+        is always preserved for investigation, even when a workflow is misbehaving
+        (e.g. running in a tight loop) and the MAX_ENTRIES limit is exceeded.
         """
 
         # Delete all history entries older than max days
@@ -870,8 +873,14 @@ def clear_old_history(self) -> None:
             status=HistoryStatusChoices.STARTED
         ).filter(started_on__lt=oldest_history_date).delete()
 
-        # Delete all history entries older than max entries
+        # Delete history entries beyond max entries, but only if they are also
+        # older than min retention days. Entries within the retention window are
+        # always kept regardless of count, so that recent history is available
+        # for investigation even when a workflow runs excessively.
         max_entries = settings.AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES
+        recent_threshold = timezone.now() - timedelta(
+            days=settings.AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS
+        )
         cutoff_date = Subquery(
             AutomationWorkflowHistory.objects.filter(
                 original_workflow_id=OuterRef("original_workflow_id")
@@ -884,7 +893,9 @@ def clear_old_history(self) -> None:
         )
         AutomationWorkflowHistory.objects.exclude(
             status=HistoryStatusChoices.STARTED
-        ).filter(started_on__lt=cutoff_date).delete()
+        ).filter(
+            Q(started_on__lt=cutoff_date) & Q(started_on__lt=recent_threshold),
+        ).delete()
 
         # Clean up published automations that no longer have any history entries
         empty_published = (

backend/tests/baserow/contrib/automation/workflows/test_workflow_tasks.py

@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
 from baserow.core.cache import global_cache
 
 
-@override_settings(AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=2)
+@override_settings(
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=2,
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=0,
+)
 @pytest.mark.django_db
 def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_keeps_max_entries_per_workflow(data_fixture):
     workflow_a = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow()
@@ -152,6 +155,7 @@ def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_deletes_entries_older_than_max_days(data_fi
 @override_settings(
     AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS=2,
     AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=2,
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=0,
 )
 @pytest.mark.django_db
 def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_keeps_entries_within_both_limits(data_fixture):
@@ -273,3 +277,79 @@ def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_max_entries_with_different_clones(data_fixt
         automation_periodic_cleanup()
 
     assert original_workflow.workflow_histories.count() == 2
+
+
+@override_settings(
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=2,
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=2,
+)
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_recent_entries_protected_from_count_cleanup(
+    data_fixture,
+):
+    """
+    Entries within MIN_RETENTION_DAYS are never deleted by MAX_ENTRIES, even when
+    the workflow has more entries than the limit. This ensures that history from a
+    misbehaving workflow (e.g. a tight loop) is preserved for investigation.
+    """
+
+    workflow = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow()
+
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-29 10:00:00"):
+        history_1 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-29 11:00:00"):
+        history_2 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-29 12:00:00"):
+        history_3 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+
+    # Run cleanup on the same day — all 3 entries are within MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=2,
+    # so none should be deleted despite exceeding MAX_ENTRIES=2.
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-29 13:00:00"):
+        automation_periodic_cleanup()
+
+    assert workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_1.id).exists()
+    assert workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_2.id).exists()
+    assert workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_3.id).exists()
+
+
+@override_settings(
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES=2,
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=2,
+    # Disable timeout so STARTED entries from old dates aren't marked as errors.
+    AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS=9999,
+)
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_automation_periodic_cleanup_old_entries_beyond_count_are_deleted(data_fixture):
+    """
+    Entries older than MIN_RETENTION_DAYS that exceed MAX_ENTRIES are deleted normally.
+    """
+
+    workflow = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow()
+
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-25 10:00:00"):
+        history_1 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-25 11:00:00"):
+        history_2 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-25 12:00:00"):
+        history_3 = data_fixture.create_automation_workflow_history(
+            workflow=workflow, status=HistoryStatusChoices.SUCCESS
+        )
+
+    # Run cleanup 4 days later — all entries are older than MIN_RETENTION_DAYS=2,
+    # so the oldest entry should be deleted to enforce MAX_ENTRIES=2.
+    with freeze_time("2026-04-29 12:00:00"):
+        automation_periodic_cleanup()
+
+    assert not workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_1.id).exists()
+    assert workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_2.id).exists()
+    assert workflow.workflow_histories.filter(id=history_3.id).exists()

changelog/entries/unreleased/refactor/5249_introduce_min_retention_days_for_history_to_keep_more_entrie.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+    "type": "refactor",
+    "message": "Introduce min retention days for history to keep more entries for recent workflow runs.",
+    "issue_origin": "github",
+    "issue_number": 5249,
+    "domain": "automation",
+    "bullet_points": [],
+    "created_at": "2026-04-29"
+}

docker-compose.no-caddy.yml

@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ x-backend-variables:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES:
+  BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES:
 
   BASEROW_EXTRA_ALLOWED_HOSTS:
@@ -265,6 +266,7 @@ services:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES:
+      BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES:
     depends_on:
       - backend

docker-compose.yml

@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ x-backend-variables:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES:
+  BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS:
   BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES:
 
   BASEROW_EXTRA_ALLOWED_HOSTS:
@@ -349,6 +350,7 @@ services:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_TIMEOUT_HOURS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_DAYS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MAX_ENTRIES:
+      BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_MIN_RETENTION_DAYS:
       BASEROW_AUTOMATION_WORKFLOW_HISTORY_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES:
       BASEROW_INTEGRATIONS_PERIODIC_MINUTE_MIN:
       BASEROW_ENTERPRISE_ASSISTANT_LLM_MODEL: