Artisan commands

messages:prune permanently deletes messages older than a retention window:

php artisan messages:prune --days=30          # defaults to MESSAGES_PRUNE_DAYS
php artisan messages:prune --thread=42        # limit to one thread

• --days — the cutoff in days, a whole number of at least 1; defaults to prune.days (MESSAGES_PRUNE_DAYS, 90). 0, -1, ten, 1.9 or a blank value exits with an error before anything is deleted.
• --thread — limit pruning to one thread id. An id that names no thread (soft-deleted ones count) exits with an error rather than pruning every thread.
• Prunes unsent (soft-deleted) messages too — it is a hard delete.
• Removes attachment files when media.cleanup_on_force_delete is on.
• Re-points each affected thread’s latest message, so the inbox never previews a pruned message.

The command reports how many messages it removed. It runs through MessagesManager::prune(), so Messages::fake() records a console or scheduled prune too. Schedule it like any other Artisan command to enforce retention. From code, Messages::prune(days: 30, thread: $thread) does the same and returns the count; a window below 1 day throws InvalidArgumentException before anything is deleted.

Configuration overview

php artisan about   # includes a "Messages" section

The Messages section shows models, key type, publicity, roles, system messages, notifications, broadcasting, preview length, retention and attachment settings — the shape of the configuration only, never content.