R2 - R2 Data Catalog now supports automatic snapshot expiration

R2 Data Catalog now supports automatic snapshot expiration for Apache Iceberg tables. In Apache Iceberg, a snapshot is metadata that represents the state of a table at a given point in time. Every mutation creates a new snapshot which enable powerful features like time travel queries and rollback capabilities but will accumulate over time. Without regular cleanup, these accumulated snapshots can lead to: Metadata overhead Slower table operations Increased storage costs. Snapshot expiration in R2 Data Catalog automatically removes old table snapshots based on your configured retention policy, improving performance and storage costs. # Enable catalog-level snapshot expiration # Expire snapshots older than 7 days, always retain at least 10 recent snapshots npx wrangler r2 bucket catalog snapshot-expiration enable my-bucket \ --older-than-days 7 \ --retain-last 10 Snapshot expiration uses two parameters to determine which snapshots to remove: --older-than-days : age threshold in days --retain-last : minimum snapshot count to retain Both conditions must be met before a snapshot is expired, ensuring you always retain recent snapshots even if they exceed the age threshold. This feature complements automatic compaction , which optimizes query performance by combining small data files into larger ones. Together, these automatic maintenance operations keep your Iceberg tables performant and cost-efficient without manual intervention. To learn more about snapshot expiration and how to configure it, visit our table maintenance documentation or see how to manage catalogs .