Workflow auto purge leaves empty folders in AEMaaCS
In AEMaaCS, running the workflow auto purge feature deletes workflow instance nodes as expected, but empty container folders under /var/workflow/instances remain. These folders follow a server- and date-based structure and persist after the purge. This behavior is by design and does not affect repository health or performance. To fix this, verify the purge behavior and understand why these empty folders remain.
Description description
Environment
- Product: Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service – Sites
- Configuration: Workflow auto purge with
scheduledpurge.purgePackagePayload=true
Issue/Symptoms
- Workflow instance nodes are deleted after running the workflow auto purge job.
- Parent container folders such as
/var/workflow/instances/<server>/<date>remain in the repository. - The remaining folders exist as empty
sling:Foldernodes.
Resolution resolution
To handle empty workflow instance folders after auto purge, follow these steps:
-
Confirm that the workflow auto purge job deletes workflow instance nodes according to your configuration.
-
Check the
/var/workflow/instancespath and observe that empty server- and date-based container folders remain. Notes:- Understand that these empty folders are expected and serve as an organizational structure for workflow instances.
- Take no further action, because there is no out-of-the-box setting to remove these folders automatically.
- If folder removal is required, implement a custom solution in your codebase outside standard product configuration.
-
Verify that only workflow instance nodes are deleted and that package payloads under
/var/workflow/packagesfollow your configured purge settings.
Notes:
- The
scheduledpurge.purgePackagePayloadsetting applies only to packages under/var/workflow/packages(or/etc/workflow/packagesin older setups) and does not affect container folders under/var/workflow/instances. - Empty
sling:Foldernodes have minimal impact on storage usage and system performance. - AEMaaCS does not provide a built-in mechanism to automatically remove these empty organizational folders.