Open Arsenal

Secure. Transparent. Nullified.

Nullify is an open source centralized data retention and deletion system designed to give organizations precise control over the full lifecycle of their data. It focuses on making data governance transparent, auditable, and policy-driven, so that retention rules and deletion workflows are no longer scattered across disconnected services or manual processes. Instead, everything flows through a single, consistent system that can be deployed in cloud, on-premise, or hybrid environments.

At its core, Nullify ingests data from a wide range of sources including relational databases, NoSQL systems, APIs, and cloud storage. Once ingested, the data is normalized and evaluated against a policy engine that defines retention rules, deletion schedules, and compliance requirements. These policies are fully versioned and traceable, ensuring that every decision the system makes can be reviewed and audited later. The execution layer then carries out actions such as deletion, archiving, or anonymization in a controlled and safe manner, including support for dry-run validation before any destructive operation occurs.

Nullify also emphasizes auditability and compliance as first-class features. Every action is logged in an immutable audit trail, making it possible to reconstruct exactly what happened, when it happened, and why. This is especially important for regulatory frameworks like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA, where organizations must demonstrate strict control over data handling practices. Built-in reporting and dashboard tools give teams real-time visibility into pending actions, policy evaluations, and system-wide data retention status.

Beyond compliance, Nullify is designed to be extensible and modern. It supports plugin-based integrations, REST and GraphQL APIs, and event-driven workflows using systems like Kafka or RabbitMQ. Advanced features include optional AI-assisted data classification for identifying sensitive information, smart scheduling for optimizing retention operations, and multi-tenant support for organizations managing multiple environments. With a stack built around tools like Open Policy Agent, FastAPI, React, Kubernetes, and PostgreSQL, Nullify is built to scale while remaining fully open source under the AGPL 3.0+ license.

This specification is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+) and may be used freely with required attribution under Section 7. A Specification Branding License is available for attribution-free deployments, with fees based on usage, scope, and deployment size.