The XMPP ecosystem has standardized around Message Archive Management (XEP-0313) [1] for incoming and outgoing message synchronization. Messages are stored in the archive for a period of time, so they can be fetched by all receiving devices. However, the retention of messages is typically controlled purely by the configuration of the server, typically as a fixed period of time.
This specification defines a protocol that allows a client to request "trimming" of an archive’s contents on-demand.
This protocol is designed for on-demand use cases, such as when a user explicitly requests purging all messages from the archive. It is not designed for automated client-side enforcement of a general retention policy (e.g. implementing a user preference that the archive should contain no more than 30 days of messages). Such a feature would be far better implemented with a server-side enforcement approach, which would allow all clients to discover and agree on a policy, and function even when clients are offline.
Servers supporting and allowing this operation MUST advertise the service discovery feature 'urn:xmpp:mamtrim:0'.
If a deployment is configured to disallow trimming (e.g. because of legal or audit requirements to preserve messages), the feature SHOULD NOT be advertised to clients.
If supported by the server, clients may request for an archive to be 'trimmed' - this means immediate removal of all archived stanzas up to, and including, a specified UID. To ensure archive integrity, it is not possible to remove items from the "middle" or end of an archive.
To request trimming, a client sends an <iq/> of type 'set' to the archive, containing a <trim/> element qualified by the 'urn:xmpp:mamtrim:0' namespace.
An empty <trim/> element requests the deletion of all currently-archived stanzas. Alternatively, the element may contain a single <id/> element which, as character data, specifies the archive UID of an item to trim, along with all older items.
<iq type='set' id='gIgQj65M'>
<trim xmlns='urn:xmpp:mamtrim:0'>
<id>e5c258ec-2ce4-11f1-841f-507b9dcf344f</id>
</trim>
</iq>On success, the server returns an empty iq result:
<iq type='result' id='gIgQj65M'></iq>
Alternatively, the server returns an appropriate error.
Servers MUST only allow trimming requests from archive owners. For per-user archives, this means the account owner. For group chat archives, this typically means the owner(s) of the group chat.
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This specification defines the following XML namespace:
Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a status of Draft, the XMPP Registrar [2] shall add the foregoing namespace to the registry located at <https://xmpp.org/registrar/namespaces.html>, as described in Section 4 of XMPP Registrar Function (XEP-0053) [3].
There were some options for how to specify the cut-off point for trimming:
Both of these can be inclusive (remove items including any with the specified timestamp or ID) or exclusive (keep the referenced item, but remove earlier items).
The protocol uses IDs, because it is more precise than timestamps, and the trim operation is inclusive of the referenced ID. This is because a common operation is expected to be "trim everything I have received", and this allows a client to pass the latest ID they have received. This prevents a race condition in "delete everything" where an incoming message could arrive after the client sent the request.
TDB.
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The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is defined in the XMPP Core (RFC 6120) and XMPP IM (RFC 6121) specifications contributed by the XMPP Standards Foundation to the Internet Standards Process, which is managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force in accordance with RFC 2026. Any protocol defined in this document has been developed outside the Internet Standards Process and is to be understood as an extension to XMPP rather than as an evolution, development, or modification of XMPP itself.
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Discussion on other xmpp.org discussion lists might also be appropriate; see <https://xmpp.org/community/> for a complete list.
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
1. XEP-0313: Message Archive Management <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html>.
2. The XMPP Registrar maintains a list of reserved protocol namespaces as well as registries of parameters used in the context of XMPP extension protocols approved by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <https://xmpp.org/registrar/>.
3. XEP-0053: XMPP Registrar Function <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0053.html>.
Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/
@report{wild2026mamtrim,
title = {Message Archive Management: Trim Command},
author = {Wild, Matthew},
type = {XEP},
number = {xxxx},
version = {0.0.1},
institution = {XMPP Standards Foundation},
url = {https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-xxxx.html},
date = {2026-03-31/2026-03-31},
}END