Delete and recover packages

10/13/2020
6 minutes to read

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 | TFS 2017

Azure Artifacts keeps all of your artifacts safe for as long as you need them, whether you published them directly or saved them from upstream sources. But, as older artifacts fall out of use, you may want to clean them up or let Azure Artifacts remove them automatically. In this article, you’ll learn how to:

Delete packages from Azure Artifacts feeds.
Set up retention policies to automatically delete older, unwanted packages from feeds.
Recover recently deleted packages from the recycle bin.

Note

To delete, recover packages and set up retention policies, you need to be an Owner of that particular feed.

Delete packages from Azure Artifacts feeds

Choose the artifact from the Packages page in the Build and Release page group and select the appropriate option from the menu:

Delete Maven artifact Azure DevOps Services

When you publish a particular version of a package to a feed, that version number is permanently reserved. You cannot upload a newer revision package with that same version number, or delete it and upload a new package at the same version.

There are two options available to remove a version of an npm package from a feed.

Deprecate: deprecating a version of a package adds a deprecation message that most npm clients, and Azure DevOps Services, will show whenever the package is viewed or installed. Deprecating a version can help you discourage new usage of it by presenting a warning message when the package is installed.
Unpublish: Unpublishing a version of a package makes it unavailable to install. Unpublished packages can be restored from the Recycle Bin within 30 days of deletion. After 30 days, the package will be deleted permanently.

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package

You must be a contributor to deprecate a package and an owner to unpublish it.

From within your feed, select the appropriate package and select Deprecate or Unpublish.

Unpublish npm package

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package in TFS

You must be a contributor to deprecate and an owner to unpublish.

Select Build and Release, then Packages. select the appropriate package and select Deprecate or Unpublish.

Unpublish npm package in TFS

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package using npm

You must first set up your client's npmrc.
To deprecate a package, run the following command:
```
npm deprecate <package>[@<version>] <message>
```
To unpublish a package, run the following command:
```
npm unpublish <package>@<version>
```

Note

npm unpublish will not unpublish all versions of the package.

See the deprecate or unpublish npm documentation for more info.

There are two options available to remove a version of a NuGet package from a feed.

Unlist: Unlisting a package version hides it from the search results, Visual Studio UI and from appearing on NuGet.org.
Delete: Deleting a version of a package makes it unavailable to install. Deleted packages can be restored from the Recycle Bin within 30 days of deletion. The packages will be deleted permanently afterwards.

Unlisting or deleting a NuGet package

You must be a contributor to unlist a package and an owner to delete it.

From within your feed, select the appropriate package and select Unlist or Delete latest.

Unlist or delete nuget packages

Unlisting or deleting a NuGet package

You must be a contributor to unlist a package and an owner to delete it.

Select Build and Release, then Packages. select the appropriate package and select Unlist or Delete latest.

Unlist or delete nuget package TFS

Unlisting a NuGet package using NuGet.exe

Navigate to your feed and select Connect to feed
Select NuGet.exe then find and Copy the Package Source URL.

Run the following command:

nuget.exe delete {your_package_id} {version} -Source {feed URL} -ApiKey key

NuGet.exe currently only performs the unlist packages operation. Azure DevOps Services and TFS interpret the nuget.exe delete command as an unlist operation. To delete a package, you must use the REST API or the web interface.

Note

Packages that are placed in the recycle bin will be deleted permanently after 30 days. However, these packages still count as part of your storage bill. If you want to delete them sooner, you can navigate to the recycle bin and delete them manually.

Automatically delete old package versions with retention policies

Over time, the number of versions for each package being hosted in your feed can grow quickly. You can set up retention policies to automatically delete old packages and save storage space.

maximum number of versions: allow you to chose how many versions of a package you want to keep.
days to keep recently downloaded packages. Packages will be deleted only if they have not been downloaded for the number of days set in here.

If you'd like to retain a package indefinitely, you can promote it to a view. Versions that got promoted to views are exempt from retention policies and will not be deleted.

Note

Package demotion is not currently supported. If you want this feature to be added to future releases, please feel free to Suggest a feature on our Azure DevOps Developer Community. See Get started with feed views for more information.

To configure retention policies:

Navigate to Azure Artifacts.
Select the gear icon in your feed and select Feed settings.
From the Feed details tab, in the Retention policies setting, enter the maximum number of versions per package to retain, and the number of days to keep recently downloaded packages.
Select Save.

Select Build and Release, then Packages to navigate to your feed and select the gear icon.
From the Retention tab, enter the maximum number of versions per package to retain.
Select Save.

Note

When you enable retention policies, a version of a package will be deleted when both of the following criteria are met:

The number of published versions of that package reaches the maximum number of versions limit, AND
A version of that package has not been downloaded within the number of days to keep recently downloaded packages.

Recover a deleted package from the recycle bin

Deleted packages will remain in the recycle bin for 30 days after which it will be permanently deleted. You must be assigned an owner role in order for you to recover deleted packages.

Select Azure Artifacts.
Select "Recycle Bin".
Select the appropriate package then select the package version.
Select Restore to feed.

Select Build and Release, then Packages to navigate to your feed and select Recycle bin.
Select the appropriate package then select the package version.
Select Restore to feed.

Q&A

Q: What happens with old/existing packages when we enable retention policies?

A: Those packages will get soft-deleted and moved to the recycle bin. The deletion job runs once a day but there could be an initial delay after the policy is turned on for the first time due to an influx of packages. Packages remain in the recycle bin for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. To remove the packages from your billable storage, you can chose to delete them manually using the UI or the REST API before the 30 days is up.

Delete and recover packages

Delete packages from Azure Artifacts feeds

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package in TFS

Deprecate or unpublish an npm package using npm

Unlisting or deleting a NuGet package

Unlisting or deleting a NuGet package

Unlisting a NuGet package using NuGet.exe

Automatically delete old package versions with retention policies

Recover a deleted package from the recycle bin

Q&A

Q: What happens with old/existing packages when we enable retention policies?

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