In the DO Container Registry, I’ve been seeing the following pop-up:
#### Try automated garbage collection in Public Preview
Automatically reclaim storage space while your registry remains fully operational.
Unfortunately, there’s almost no information provided about what “Public Preview” actually means. There are no details on what enrolling involves, how to opt out later, or any clear documentation explaining the feature.
I’d really like to try this functionality, but I have a few concerns:
- Is it free (even temporarily)?
- Will it always remain free, or is there a future cost?
- What happens after opting in—can I easily disable it?
Some clarity around these points would be really helpful before deciding to enable the feature.
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Hey!
Good questions, I had the same thoughts when I first saw that banner.
From what I understand, “Public Preview” on DigitalOcean usually means the feature is still being tested and can change.
For automated garbage collection specifically, it should just clean up unused image layers in your registry so you save space, nothing destructive to active images. You should still be able to disable it later, but I am not 100% sure.
I agree the lack of details is a bit confusing. If you want a clear answer on pricing and opt out, best is to ask support directly here: https://do.co/support
Personally, I would try it on a non critical registry first and see how it behaves.
Heya, @a801cb8b3a534e9393a77f03f1df3e
You can opt in and out anytime from the Feature Preview page in your account settings, so it’s not a one-way door. Worth knowing though that preview features don’t come with SLA credits and DO recommends not running super sensitive stuff on them, just in case something acts up.
For the automated GC specifically, the nice part is that unlike the manual version (which puts your registry into read-only mode while it runs), the automatic one cleans up unreferenced layers and untagged manifests in the background without that downtime window. So pulls and pushes keep working normally.
Regards
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