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15691569* **Bare mode**: when you run `claude -p` with [`--bare`](/docs/en/headless#start-faster-with-bare-mode), Claude Code doesn't run the sweep in that session.
15701570* **Paused sweep**: if Claude Code can't safely determine the retention period, it pauses the retention cleanup sweep; the [`retention_sweep` event](/docs/en/monitoring-usage#retention-sweep-event) lists each configuration that pauses it. When the cause is a settings file that can't be read or parsed, or settings errors with `cleanupPeriodDays` or `desktopSessionCleanupPeriodDays` explicitly set, Claude Code also shows a warning in `/status` until you fix the settings errors. When [managed settings](/docs/en/server-managed-settings) provide `cleanupPeriodDays`, Claude Code runs the sweep at the managed value in either case.
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1572To check that the machines in your organization run the sweep with the retention period you set, see [Check the retention sweep](/docs/en/monitoring-usage#check-the-retention-sweep).
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15721574### Session scratchpad directory
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15741576The scratchpad is a per-session directory that Claude Code gives Claude for temporary files: intermediate results, helper scripts, and drafts that don't belong in your project. When Claude says it saved something "to the scratchpad", the file is there. Claude uses it instead of `/tmp`, and can create, edit, and read files in it without a permission prompt.
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16791681Pass `--all` instead of a path to purge state for every project at once, which deletes `history.jsonl` outright rather than filtering it. Pass `-i` to step through the deletion plan one item at a time.
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1681The command leaves `shell-snapshots/` and `backups/` alone because those are not project-scoped, and warns about them in the plan output.
1683In a script, check the output rather than the exit status alone. A run that deletes everything in its plan ends with `Purged N item(s)`. Treat that line as the sign of success.
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1685The command leaves `shell-snapshots/` and `backups/` alone because those are not project-scoped, and warns about them in the plan output. If anyone ran [`/heapdump`](/docs/en/troubleshooting#high-cpu-or-memory-usage) on the machine, delete the `.heapsnapshot` files it wrote too. A heap snapshot contains the full conversation and any credentials the process held, and neither the retention sweep nor the purge touches it.
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16831687You can also delete any of the application-data paths above by hand, apart from the [state files to keep](#state-files-to-keep). New sessions are unaffected. The table below shows what you lose for past sessions.
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