README

TYPO3 extension (v13.4+) that soft-deletes hidden tt_content records older than a configurable number of days, including their recursive b13/container children.

How it works

1. FinderService queries tt_content for records where hidden = 1, t3ver_wsid = 0, and tstamp is older than the given threshold. Pages with tx_delete_hidden_exclude = 1 are skipped.
2. CleanupService enforces a safety cap (default 500) and delegates all deletions to TYPO3's DataHandler — no direct SQL. Any DataHandler error aborts the run immediately.
3. CleanupCommand exposes the service as a Symfony Console command.

CLI usage

# Preview candidates without deleting (dry run)
typo3 delete_hidden:cleanup --days=90 --dry-run

# Delete hidden content older than 30 days
typo3 delete_hidden:cleanup --days=30

# Scope to a specific page subtree
typo3 delete_hidden:cleanup --days=90 --page=42

# Override the default safety cap of 500
typo3 delete_hidden:cleanup --days=90 --limit=1000

# Verbose output — shows a table of deleted records
typo3 delete_hidden:cleanup --days=90 -v

Options

Exit codes

Page exclusion

Set tx_delete_hidden_exclude = 1 on a page to exclude all its content from cleanup.

Installation

composer require marketing-factory/delete-hidden

Then activate the extension in the TYPO3 backend under Admin Tools > Extensions or via CLI:

typo3 extension:activate delete_hidden

Scheduler task

The extension registers a TYPO3 Scheduler task named "Delete Hidden Content Elements".

1. Navigate to System > Scheduler in the TYPO3 backend
2. Add a new task and select Delete Hidden Content Elements from the class dropdown
3. Configure the fields:
   • Days — minimum age in days for a record to be a candidate (default: 90)
   • Limit — maximum records per run (default: 500)
4. Set frequency and save

The Scheduler task always executes (no dry-run mode). If the candidate count exceeds the limit, only the first N records are processed; the rest are handled in subsequent runs.

Running tests

Tests require the project's Composer dependencies to be installed (the vendor/ directory at the repository root).

# From the repository root — run all unit tests for this extension
phpunit -c extensions/delete_hidden/Tests/Build/UnitTests.xml

# From the repository root — run all functional tests for this extension (requires running MySQL database via ddev)
phpunit -c extensions/delete_hidden/Tests/Build/FunctionalTests.xml

Test files are located in Tests/Unit/ and Tests/Functional/.

Requirements

• TYPO3 13.4+
• PHP 8.2+
• b13/container (optional) — required only if the host project uses container elements