This article is about our commercial products such as Claude for Work and the Anthropic API. For our consumer products such as Claude Free, Pro, Max and when accounts from those plans use Claude Code, see here.
Some enterprise API customers, subject to Anthropic approval, may have arrangements under which Anthropic does not store their inputs or outputs except where needed to comply with law or combat misuse. Under these arrangements, Anthropic still retains UserSafety classifier results in order to enforce our Usage Policy. These arrangements are distinct from Anthropic’s default approach to data retention.
Under these agreements, the only product to which zero data retention applies is the Anthropic API, and Anthropic products that use your Commercial organization API key (including Claude Code). Zero data retention does not apply to beta products, Workbench in Console, Claude for Work, Claude Max, or any other products, unless explicitly agreed otherwise between Anthropic and the customer.
Additionally, if you choose to allow certain batch API calls (as detailed in Claude docs), the Files API, prompt caching, or structured outputs, those API instructions may override the zero data retention controls. For example, files uploaded via the Files API are retained by Anthropic regardless of your zero data retention agreement, until you choose to delete them. This differs from our standard API interactions under ZDR because the Files API requires persistent storage to enable features like file reuse across conversations and the Code Execution Tool. Similarly, if you use structured outputs, Anthropic will temporarily store cached data for up to 24 hours, which includes only the schema information (such as tool definitions and schema information) that you submit. The actual content of your prompts or outputs will not be stored. And if you enable prompt caching, Anthropic will temporarily store limited metadata and non-text, hashed representations of prompts to determine whether they have been previously submitted to improve performance, based on the selected TTL. Learn more about our retention periods here.
When enabled by your account’s owner or primary owner, Claude Code metrics logging will allow your account’s administrators to monitor how your organization uses Claude Code and track productivity metrics. When switched on, zero data retention will not apply to logged metrics. Learn more here.
Zero data retention may not apply to customer data processed by any third-party websites as part of a web search or shared with or stored by third parties.
If you’re a current or prospective enterprise API customer with questions about zero data retention, please reach out to our Sales Team.
If you have questions about Anthropic's Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which is only available to customers who use our HIPAA eligible services, including those that qualify for zero data retention, please also read this article. As part of the BAA, customers of Anthropic’s HIPAA eligible services are subject to certain configuration requirements and limitations on what features/integrations are available (e.g., the BAA would not apply to use of the web search functionality).