Nullify

Secure. Transparent. Nullified.

Nullify is an open source, modular data retention, deletion, and lifecycle governance platform. It provides a centralized framework for discovering data, evaluating retention policies, executing controlled lifecycle actions, and maintaining verifiable audit records across distributed data environments.

Nullify is designed around a specification-first architecture. Core modules provide the foundational capabilities required for data lifecycle governance, while optional plugin modules extend Nullify with additional connectors, compliance frameworks, intelligence, integrations, storage systems, and deployment capabilities.

Specification

Nullify defines an open source architecture for centralized data lifecycle management.

The specification is built around several principles:

Centralized policy coordination
Distributed data source support
Policy-driven retention and deletion
Explicit authorization and approval
Dry-run and validation workflows
Immutable and verifiable auditing
Data lineage and provenance
Modular connectors and integrations
Human oversight for destructive operations
Secure-by-default execution
Vendor-neutral architecture
Local, cloud, hybrid, and federated deployment
Extensible plugin architecture
Transparent policy evaluation
Reproducible lifecycle decisions

Nullify does not require organizations to migrate their data into a proprietary centralized repository. Instead, the system coordinates lifecycle policies and actions across existing data environments.

Architecture

Nullify is divided into two primary architectural layers:

Core Modules
Optional Plugin Modules

Core modules contain the foundational functionality required to operate Nullify. Optional plugins provide specialized functionality without making the base platform dependent on a particular database, cloud provider, compliance framework, AI system, notification platform, or infrastructure environment.

Core Architecture

The primary lifecycle flow is:

Discovery → Classification → Policy Evaluation → Approval → Scheduling → Execution → Verification → Audit

Each stage is represented by an independently maintainable core module.

Core Modules

1. Data Discovery Module

The Data Discovery Module identifies and inventories data resources managed by Nullify.

Features include:

Data source registration
Resource discovery
Dataset and object inventories
Metadata collection
Data ownership metadata
Creation and modification timestamps
Access metadata
Storage location tracking
Resource status tracking
Data source health monitoring
Discovery scheduling

The module provides the inventory required by downstream lifecycle policies without requiring the underlying data to be copied into Nullify.

2. Data Classification Module

The Data Classification Module assigns structured metadata to discovered resources.

Features include:

Data category assignment
Sensitivity classification
PII classification
Financial data classification
Health data classification
Internal and public classification
User-defined classifications
Classification confidence
Classification history
Manual classification
Classification overrides

Classification results become inputs to the policy evaluation process.

3. Policy Engine Module

The Policy Engine is the central decision-making component of Nullify.

Features include:

Retention policies
Deletion policies
Archival policies
Anonymization policies
Legal hold rules
Exception rules
Policy priorities
Policy inheritance
Policy versioning
Policy activation and expiration
Policy simulation
Policy conflict detection
Policy validation
Policy rollback

Policies should be declarative and machine-readable.

Nullify should support multiple policy formats while maintaining a normalized internal policy model.

4. Lifecycle Decision Module

The Lifecycle Decision Module converts policy evaluations into explicit lifecycle decisions.

Supported decisions include:

Retain
Review
Archive
Anonymize
Delete
Legal hold
Exception
Defer

Every decision should contain sufficient metadata to explain:

What decision was made
Which resource was affected
Which policy produced the decision
Which policy version was used
When the decision was created
When the decision should be executed
Whether approval is required

5. Approval and Human Oversight Module

Nullify should not assume that every destructive operation can be fully automated.

The Approval Module provides controlled human oversight.

Features include:

Approval queues
Multi-person approval
Role-based approval
Approval delegation
Approval expiration
Rejection workflows
Escalation workflows
Emergency holds
Manual overrides
Approval history

Organizations can configure which actions require human approval and which may execute automatically.

6. Scheduling Module

The Scheduling Module manages when lifecycle actions occur.

Features include:

Scheduled deletion
Scheduled archival
Scheduled anonymization
Batch processing
Priority queues
Maintenance windows
Resource-aware scheduling
Retry scheduling
Dependency-aware execution
Workload balancing
Execution throttling

Scheduling should separate the decision to perform an action from the actual execution of that action.

7. Action Execution Module

The Action Execution Module performs approved lifecycle operations against registered data sources.

Supported lifecycle actions include:

Delete
Archive
Anonymize
Redact
Quarantine
Move
Expire
Revoke access

Features include:

Dry-run execution
Pre-execution validation
Execution confirmation
Transaction-aware operations where supported
Retry handling
Failure detection
Partial failure tracking
Execution status
Execution receipts
Idempotent execution
Safe execution controls

Destructive actions should require explicit authorization according to configured policy.

8. Verification Module

The Verification Module confirms whether lifecycle actions were successfully completed.

Features include:

Deletion verification
Archive verification
Anonymization verification
Source confirmation
Replica verification
Retry verification
Failed-action detection
Residual data detection
Verification reports

Verification should distinguish between:

Requested
Authorized
Scheduled
Executed
Verified
Failed
Partially completed

9. Audit and Evidence Module

The Audit and Evidence Module records the complete lifecycle of every important system action.

Features include:

Immutable audit events
Cryptographic event integrity
Policy decision records
Approval records
Execution records
Verification records
User activity records
Configuration history
Policy history
Audit export
Evidence packages
Chain-of-custody records

Audit records should make it possible to reconstruct why a lifecycle decision occurred and what happened afterward.

10. Data Lineage Module

The Data Lineage Module tracks relationships between data resources.

Features include:

Source lineage
Destination lineage
Transformation lineage
Copy relationships
Replication relationships
Derived-data relationships
Parent-child relationships
Data movement history
Lifecycle propagation

Lineage allows Nullify to identify related resources that may also require retention, archival, anonymization, or deletion.

11. Access Control Module

The Access Control Module protects administrative and lifecycle operations.

Features include:

Role-Based Access Control
Attribute-Based Access Control
Permission management
Resource-level permissions
Action-level permissions
Approval permissions
Administrative separation
Session management
Authentication integration
Authorization auditing

Destructive operations should use least-privilege authorization.

12. Notification Module

The Notification Module provides system and lifecycle notifications.

Features include:

Policy violation alerts
Failed execution alerts
Approval notifications
Scheduled-action notifications
Verification failures
Data source failures
Compliance alerts
Administrative notifications

The core module should expose a notification interface while delivery mechanisms remain replaceable.

13. API Module

The API Module provides programmatic access to Nullify.

Features include:

REST API
GraphQL API
Authentication
Authorization
Resource management
Policy management
Lifecycle management
Audit queries
Reporting
Plugin management
Administrative operations

APIs should expose stable versioned interfaces.

14. Dashboard Module

The Dashboard provides the primary administrative interface.

Features include:

Data inventory
Retention status
Pending actions
Policy status
Approval queues
Execution status
Verification status
Audit history
Policy conflicts
Compliance metrics
System health
Plugin status

The dashboard should provide visibility without requiring users to interact directly with underlying databases or execution systems.

15. Reporting Module

The Reporting Module converts lifecycle data into operational and compliance reports.

Features include:

Retention reports
Deletion reports
Policy reports
Audit reports
Exception reports
Legal hold reports
Execution reports
Verification reports
Data inventory reports
Compliance evidence packages

Supported export formats should include:

JSON
CSV
PDF
Structured machine-readable evidence formats

16. Multi-Tenant Module

The Multi-Tenant Module allows Nullify to operate across multiple organizational environments.

Features include:

Organization isolation
Tenant-specific policies
Tenant-specific administrators
Tenant-specific audit records
Tenant-specific connectors
Tenant-specific retention rules
Tenant-specific reporting
Tenant-level configuration

Tenant boundaries should be enforced at the authorization and data-access layers.

17. Federation Module

The Federation Module coordinates multiple Nullify installations.

Features include:

Multi-cluster coordination
Federated policies
Distributed execution
Regional lifecycle enforcement
Cross-environment audit coordination
Centralized visibility
Local execution
Federated verification

Federation should allow organizations to retain local control over their data while coordinating lifecycle governance centrally.

Optional Plugin Modules

Plugins extend Nullify without expanding the dependency requirements of the core platform.

Plugins should use documented interfaces and APIs and should be independently installable, upgradeable, enabled, and disabled.

Data Source Plugins

Optional connectors may include:

PostgreSQL
MySQL
MariaDB
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle Database
MongoDB
Redis
Elasticsearch
OpenSearch
Snowflake
BigQuery
Databricks
Apache Cassandra
S3-compatible storage
Google Cloud Storage
Azure Blob Storage
Network file systems
Object storage systems
Custom REST APIs

Cloud Provider Plugins

Optional integrations may include:

AWS
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud
Cloudflare
DigitalOcean
Other S3-compatible infrastructure

Cloud plugins should remain optional so that Nullify remains vendor-neutral.

Compliance Plugins

Optional compliance policy packs may include:

GDPR
CCPA
CPRA
HIPAA
GLBA
FERPA
PCI DSS
SOX
Regional privacy requirements
Organization-specific compliance frameworks

Compliance plugins should provide policy templates and mappings rather than hard-code regulatory requirements into the core engine.

AI and Intelligence Plugins

AI functionality should remain optional.

Possible plugins include:

Sensitive-data classification
PII detection
Document classification
Entity recognition
Retention recommendations
Policy conflict analysis
Policy optimization
Anomaly detection
Failed-deletion analysis
Compliance assistance
Natural-language policy creation

AI-generated recommendations should remain subject to policy controls and human oversight.

Workflow Plugins

Optional workflow integrations may include:

Apache Airflow
Dagster
Temporal
Kubernetes Jobs
GitLab CI/CD
Other workflow orchestration platforms

Event Bus Plugins

Optional event integrations may include:

Apache Kafka
RabbitMQ
NATS
Redis Streams
MQTT
Cloud event systems

Identity Plugins

Optional authentication and identity integrations may include:

LDAP
Active Directory
OAuth
OpenID Connect
SAML
Enterprise identity providers

Notification Plugins

Optional notification integrations may include:

Email
Slack
Microsoft Teams
Webhooks
PagerDuty
Other notification services

Storage Plugins

Nullify may support optional storage backends for audit records, evidence, metadata, and system state.

Possible plugins include:

PostgreSQL
SQLite
MariaDB
S3-compatible object storage
MinIO
Distributed databases
Enterprise storage systems

Deployment Plugins

Optional deployment modules may provide:

Docker
Docker Compose
Kubernetes
Helm
Terraform
Ansible
Cloud deployment templates

Security Architecture

Security is a core requirement rather than an optional plugin.

Nullify should provide:

Encryption in transit
Encryption at rest
Least-privilege authorization
Secure credential handling
Secret management integration
Authentication
Authorization
Audit logging
Cryptographic audit integrity
Rate limiting
API security
Administrative separation
Secure plugin isolation
Configuration validation
Secure defaults

Nullify should never require plaintext credentials to be stored in application configuration.

Safe Deletion Architecture

Because deletion is potentially destructive, Nullify separates lifecycle decisions from execution.

The recommended lifecycle is:

Discover the resource
Classify the resource
Evaluate applicable policies
Generate a lifecycle decision
Check exceptions and legal holds
Request approval when required
Schedule the action
Execute the action
Verify the result
Record the evidence
Update lifecycle state
Report the result

Dry-run mode should allow organizations to evaluate the expected outcome before executing destructive actions.

Legal Holds and Exceptions

Nullify must support lifecycle exceptions that prevent automated deletion.

Examples include:

Legal holds
Investigations
Active disputes
Regulatory preservation requirements
Security investigations
Organizational exceptions
Temporary retention extensions

A legal hold or approved exception should take precedence over ordinary deletion policies according to the configured policy hierarchy.

Policy Conflict Detection

Nullify should identify situations where policies produce conflicting lifecycle decisions.

Examples include:

Delete versus retain
Delete versus legal hold
Archive versus delete
Conflicting retention periods
Conflicting organizational policies
Conflicting jurisdictional policies

The system should explain the conflict and identify which policies contributed to it.

Transparency

Every important lifecycle decision should be explainable.

Nullify should provide a decision record containing:

Resource
Data classification
Applicable policies
Policy versions
Policy evaluation
Exceptions
Approval requirements
Final decision
Execution status
Verification status
Relevant audit events

This creates an auditable chain from policy definition to lifecycle outcome.

Technology Architecture

Nullify is designed to remain technology-neutral at the specification level.

A reference implementation may use:

Python
FastAPI
React
PostgreSQL
Open Policy Agent
Apache Airflow
Dagster
Docker
Kubernetes
MinIO
Apache Kafka
RabbitMQ
NATS

These technologies are implementation choices rather than mandatory requirements of the Nullify specification.

Modular Design

Nullify follows a modular architecture so organizations can deploy only the functionality they require.

The core platform should provide:

Discovery
Classification
Policy evaluation
Lifecycle decisions
Approval
Scheduling
Execution
Verification
Auditing
Lineage
Access control
Notifications
APIs
Dashboard
Reporting
Multi-tenancy
Federation

Optional functionality should be delivered through plugins.

This architecture prevents the core platform from becoming tightly coupled to specific vendors, cloud providers, databases, AI systems, compliance frameworks, or infrastructure platforms.

Plugin Requirements

Plugins should:

Use documented interfaces
Maintain independent configuration
Declare dependencies
Provide health checks
Support enable and disable operations
Provide clear error reporting
Respect Nullify authorization
Emit appropriate audit events
Avoid bypassing core policy evaluation
Maintain compatibility with supported API versions
Include documentation
Include tests

Plugins must not circumvent lifecycle policies or authorization controls.

Observability

Nullify should expose operational telemetry for:

Data discovery
Policy evaluation
Queue depth
Scheduled actions
Execution performance
Execution failures
Verification failures
API performance
Plugin health
Data source health
System health

Optional observability plugins may integrate with external monitoring and logging platforms.

Reliability

Nullify should support:

Retries
Idempotent actions
Failure recovery
Queue persistence
Execution checkpoints
Health checks
Service recovery
Backup and restoration
Disaster recovery
Partial failure handling

A failed deletion should never be silently reported as successful.

Deployment Models

Nullify should support:

Local development
Single-server deployment
Docker deployment
Kubernetes deployment
On-premises deployment
Cloud deployment
Hybrid deployment
Multi-region deployment
Federated deployment

Organizations should be able to operate Nullify without depending on a proprietary hosted service.

Feature Roadmap

Core

Security

Governance

Reliability

Optional Plugins

Open Source Development

Nullify is intended to be developed as a community-driven open source project.

Contributors can participate by:

Developing core modules
Creating plugins
Building connectors
Writing policy packs
Improving documentation
Creating tests
Reporting bugs
Improving security
Developing integrations
Proposing specification improvements

The modular architecture allows contributors to extend Nullify without modifying the foundational lifecycle engine whenever a feature can be implemented as a plugin.

Design Goals

Nullify is designed to provide:

Transparency over opaque lifecycle automation
Policy-driven governance over manual processes
Modular architecture over monolithic dependencies
Vendor neutrality over platform lock-in
Verifiable evidence over unverifiable claims
Human oversight over uncontrolled automation
Open source extensibility over proprietary integrations
Centralized governance with distributed execution
Secure deletion over uncontrolled destruction

Specification Branding License (SBL)

Standard

Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
Copyleft enforced for network deployments
Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/

Optional

Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/nullify/

📄 License & Notice Requirements

Nullify is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.

Please note the following:

All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
Nullify specificiations are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
The project's notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments.
Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.

For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project's notice.md file.

Open Arsenal Hub
https://gitlab.com/Roxanne_Ardary/open-arsenal-specs

Nullify — Updated!

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