Data safety and retention

Foveus captures telemetry that helps engineering teams understand what happened during an execution. That telemetry can include request context, response context, logs, timings, failure evidence, and searchable context fields. This page explains how Foveus approaches data safety and retention.

What Foveus captures

The exact data captured depends on your SDK configuration. Foveus can capture:

execution metadata
service name
environment
mode
endpoint or operation
request query values
request body context
response body context
exception details
logs, if logging integration is configured
outcome and failure evidence
searchable context fields

What Foveus does not try to be

Foveus is not a long-term raw payload archive. Foveus is designed to help you investigate executions and issues with bounded, useful telemetry. Execution Context Search uses indexed context fields. It does not scan arbitrary raw request or response bodies.

Redaction

Foveus applies redaction to help protect sensitive fields and headers. Common sensitive values include:

password
pin
otp
token
authorization
cookie
secret
api_key
cardNumber
cvv

You can add your own redacted fields.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_test_...",
    "RedactedFields": ["nationalId", "accountNumber", "dateOfBirth"]
  }
}

Redacted values are masked before they are stored or indexed.

Redaction is a safety layer. Do not intentionally send secrets, credentials, card data, or highly sensitive personal data to Foveus.

Searchable context

Foveus can index safe scalar context fields so you can search for executions by business values. For example:

{
  "customerId": "cus_12345",
  "orderStatus": {
    "value": 1,
    "label": "Confirmed"
  }
}

Foveus can index:

customerId = cus_12345
orderStatus.value = 1
orderStatus.label = Confirmed

Then you can search:

service:orders-api context:customerId="cus_12345"

or:

service:orders-api context:orderStatus.value=1

Searchable context safety

Before context is indexed, Foveus applies safety controls. These can include:

sensitive-key denylist
redaction
scalar-only indexing
bounded key length
bounded value length
bounded traversal depth
maximum indexed properties per execution
allowed context sources
workspace and service policy controls

Sensitive fields are not searchable. For example, if accountNumber is redacted, this search should not work:

service:orders-api context:accountNumber="1234567890"

Use safer identifiers such as request IDs, customer IDs, transaction IDs, or internal references.

Context sources

Foveus can index context from enabled sources.

Source	Description
`request_query`	Query string values from the request URL.
`request_body`	JSON fields sent to your API.
`response_body`	JSON fields returned by your API or provider.
`custom_context`	Values added by your application or SDK configuration.

Response body context is useful when you need to understand what your service or a third-party provider returned. Use redaction, sampling, truncation, and path exclusions to keep capture safe and bounded.

Retention

Foveus retention depends on your workspace plan. Telemetry is grouped into retention categories.

Plan	Raw	Execution	Aggregated
Free	2 days	7 days	30 days
Starter	7 days	30 days	90 days
Pro	30 days	90 days	180 days
Enterprise	90 days	180 days	365 days

Raw retention

Raw retention applies to short-lived diagnostic payloads. This can include richer request or response context used for detail views and short-term debugging. Raw data has the shortest retention window because it can contain the most detailed telemetry.

Execution retention

Execution retention applies to execution-level records and searchable execution evidence. This includes:

executions
execution metadata
linked failure evidence
searchable context properties

Searchable context follows execution retention. If an execution expires, its searchable context should expire too.

Aggregated retention

Aggregated retention applies to summarized telemetry. This can include rollups, metrics, trends, and aggregate views that do not need the full execution payload. Aggregated data can be retained longer because it is less detailed than raw execution context.

Why searchable context follows execution retention

Searchable context exists to find and explain executions. It should not outlive the execution it belongs to. For example, if an execution expires after 30 days, the indexed context used to search for that execution should expire with it. This keeps context search aligned with the execution data it explains.

Production capture guidance

For most production services, start with the Balanced capture profile and explicit redaction.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_live_...",
    "Mode": "live",
    "CaptureProfile": "Balanced",
    "CaptureRequestBodies": true,
    "CaptureResponseBodies": true,
    "ContextSamplingRate": 0.01,
    "ExcludedPathPrefixes": ["/health", "/metrics"],
    "RedactedFields": ["nationalId", "accountNumber", "dateOfBirth"]
  }
}

This lets Foveus capture useful execution evidence while keeping capture bounded. For highly sensitive services, reduce body capture or exclude sensitive routes.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_live_...",
    "Mode": "live",
    "CaptureProfile": "HighThroughput",
    "CaptureRequestBodies": false,
    "CaptureResponseBodies": false,
    "ExcludedPathPrefixes": ["/health", "/metrics", "/auth"]
  }
}

Path exclusions

Use path exclusions to avoid capturing noisy or sensitive routes.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_live_...",
    "Mode": "live",
    "ExcludedPathPrefixes": ["/health", "/metrics", "/auth"]
  }
}

Common exclusions include:

/health
/metrics
/ready
/live
/auth

Sampling

Use ContextSamplingRate to control how often successful context snapshots are captured.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_live_...",
    "Mode": "live",
    "ContextSamplingRate": 0.01
  }
}

A value of 0.01 means 1%. Sampling helps reduce storage, CPU, and network overhead for high-volume services.

Body size limits

Use MaxBodyCaptureSizeBytes to keep captured payloads bounded.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_live_...",
    "Mode": "live",
    "MaxBodyCaptureSizeBytes": 65536
  }
}

Large request or response bodies should be truncated or skipped depending on SDK behavior.

Recommended safety checklist

Before sending live telemetry:

Use a live API key.
Set Mode to live.
Confirm redacted fields for your domain.
Exclude sensitive or noisy paths.
Confirm response body capture is intentional.
Set sampling for high-volume services.
Trigger a test request.
Open the execution in Foveus.
Confirm sensitive fields are masked.
Confirm context search only exposes safe values.

Troubleshooting

A sensitive field appears in Foveus

Add the field to RedactedFields.

{
  "Foveus": {
    "ApiKey": "fov_test_...",
    "RedactedFields": ["sessionCredential"]
  }
}

Then trigger a new request. Redaction changes apply to newly captured telemetry.

Context search finds a value that should not be searchable

Check whether the field should be added to RedactedFields or blocked by policy. Use a safer identifier for search where possible.

Context search does not find a value

Check that:

the field was captured
the value is scalar
the path was not excluded
the value was not redacted
the value was ingested after context indexing was enabled
the selected time range includes the execution
the execution still exists within retention

Old executions disappeared

Retention removes data based on your workspace plan. If an execution has expired, its searchable context should expire too.

What to do next

Configure redaction: Redaction
Review SDK options: FoveusOptions
Learn about context search: Execution Context Search
Review API key safety: API keys

​What Foveus captures

​What Foveus does not try to be

​Redaction

​Searchable context

​Searchable context safety

​Context sources

​Retention

​Raw retention

​Execution retention

​Aggregated retention

​Why searchable context follows execution retention

​Production capture guidance

​Path exclusions

​Sampling

​Body size limits

​Recommended safety checklist

​Troubleshooting

​A sensitive field appears in Foveus

​Context search finds a value that should not be searchable

​Context search does not find a value

​Old executions disappeared

​What to do next

What Foveus captures

What Foveus does not try to be

Redaction

Searchable context

Searchable context safety

Context sources

Retention

Raw retention

Execution retention

Aggregated retention

Why searchable context follows execution retention

Production capture guidance

Path exclusions

Sampling

Body size limits

Recommended safety checklist

Troubleshooting

A sensitive field appears in Foveus

Context search finds a value that should not be searchable

Context search does not find a value

Old executions disappeared

What to do next