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Container registry auomated garbage cillection sign in

Posted on April 10, 2026

In the DO Container Registry, I’ve been seeing the following pop-up:

#### Try automated garbage collection in Public Preview
Automatically reclaim storage space while your registry remains fully operational.

Unfortunately, there’s almost no information provided about what “Public Preview” actually means. There are no details on what enrolling involves, how to opt out later, or any clear documentation explaining the feature.

I’d really like to try this functionality, but I have a few concerns:

  • Is it free (even temporarily)?
  • Will it always remain free, or is there a future cost?
  • What happens after opting in—can I easily disable it?

Some clarity around these points would be really helpful before deciding to enable the feature.



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Hey!

Good questions, I had the same thoughts when I first saw that banner.

From what I understand, “Public Preview” on DigitalOcean usually means the feature is still being tested and can change.

For automated garbage collection specifically, it should just clean up unused image layers in your registry so you save space, nothing destructive to active images. You should still be able to disable it later, but I am not 100% sure.

I agree the lack of details is a bit confusing. If you want a clear answer on pricing and opt out, best is to ask support directly here: https://do.co/support

Personally, I would try it on a non critical registry first and see how it behaves.

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