> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://fal.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retention and deletion

> Understand the difference between organizing media, removing library assets, and deleting or expiring files.

An asset's place in your library, its underlying media file, and its generation's request data have different lifetimes. Choose the operation that matches what you want to remove.

## Library actions

| Action                     | What happens                                                                                               |
| :------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Remove from a collection   | Removes that membership. The asset remains in the library and any other collections.                       |
| Delete a manual collection | Removes the collection, not its media. Subcollections move to its parent or to the top level.              |
| Delete a smart collection  | Removes its saved rules, not the matching media.                                                           |
| Delete a smart entity      | Removes the reusable entity, not its reference files or outputs.                                           |
| Delete an asset            | Removes the asset from the library and search. This action does not itself delete the underlying CDN file. |

The library does not offer a Trash or restore workflow. Check your selection before deleting assets.

## File lifetime

Media files follow the storage lifetime applied to them. Enabling Assets, placing a file in a collection, or sharing a collection does not itself extend a file's lifetime.

If a file expires, it can no longer be downloaded or reused as a reference. A saved entity or recorded generation relationship does not preserve an expired file. Download a copy before expiry when you need to keep the media outside fal.

See [Data retention and storage](/docs/documentation/model-apis/media-expiration) for CDN lifecycle controls and request-payload retention. For work created in Agent, also see [Agent retention](/docs/documentation/agent/retention).

## Delete generation files and request data

To delete a completed generation's stored request payloads and associated CDN output files, use [Delete request payloads](/docs/platform-apis/v1/models/requests/payloads). Input files are not deleted by that operation because they can be used by other requests.

Do not use the library's delete action as a substitute for deleting generation files or revoking access to a URL. See [File access controls](/docs/documentation/model-apis/file-access-controls) to manage file access.

## Shares and downloaded copies

Stopping a collection share revokes that viewing link. It does not remove files already downloaded by recipients. A share's expiry is separate from file expiry.