Problem
AdCP does not define how long a seller or creative agent must retain creatives that are not assigned to any active package or buy. The only retention language in the spec applies to generative variant manifests (sales-agent-creative-capabilities.mdx:88 — 90-day SHOULD), not to library creatives themselves.
Because archive is buyer-initiated only (specification.mdx:154-182), sellers today can legally purge unassigned creatives at any time. A buyer agent reusing a previously-approved creative on a new buy has no guarantee it still exists.
Questions to resolve
- Minimum retention floor — how long must a creative in each status (
approved, rejected, unassigned) be retained? Proposed default: approved creatives retained ≥90 days after the last assignment ends, or until buyer archives.
- Who holds the obligation — seller? creative agent? both? Answer likely differs depending on whether the creative lives in an external CMP vs. the sales agent's own library.
- Inline creative fate on buy rejection — if an inline creative is submitted with
create_media_buy and the buy is rejected (see sub-issue on inline semantics), does retention start from the rejection timestamp, or is the creative never considered to have entered the library?
- Purge notification — if a seller purges a creative before buyer archives it, is there an obligation to notify? (See webhook sub-issue.)
Context
Surfaced by #2254 as part of the broader creative lifecycle gap discussion. This is a 3.1 concern: with agents running autonomously, undefined retention makes creative reuse unreliable.
Affected spec areas
docs/creative/creative-libraries.mdxdocs/creative/specification.mdxdocs/creative/sales-agent-creative-capabilities.mdx
Relates to #2254, epic lineage #1612-#1616.
Problem
AdCP does not define how long a seller or creative agent must retain creatives that are not assigned to any active package or buy. The only retention language in the spec applies to generative variant manifests (
sales-agent-creative-capabilities.mdx:88— 90-day SHOULD), not to library creatives themselves.Because archive is buyer-initiated only (
specification.mdx:154-182), sellers today can legally purge unassigned creatives at any time. A buyer agent reusing a previously-approved creative on a new buy has no guarantee it still exists.Questions to resolve
approved,rejected, unassigned) be retained? Proposed default: approved creatives retained ≥90 days after the last assignment ends, or until buyer archives.create_media_buyand the buy is rejected (see sub-issue on inline semantics), does retention start from the rejection timestamp, or is the creative never considered to have entered the library?Context
Surfaced by #2254 as part of the broader creative lifecycle gap discussion. This is a 3.1 concern: with agents running autonomously, undefined retention makes creative reuse unreliable.
Affected spec areas
docs/creative/creative-libraries.mdxdocs/creative/specification.mdxdocs/creative/sales-agent-creative-capabilities.mdxRelates to #2254, epic lineage #1612-#1616.