Choose an app lifecycle
Decide whether an app stays running, expires after a lease, or sleeps when idle.
An app's lifecycle determines how long its running environment stays available. It is separate from the lifetime of the app record, definition, and saved resources. A stopped app can be started again; stopping is not deletion.
Choose a mode
Open Settings, find Lifecycle, and choose the mode that fits the task.
| Mode | Behavior | Considerations |
|---|---|---|
| Always on | Stays running until you stop it. | Keeps its runtime resources while idle. |
| Timed | Stops when its lease expires. | Extend the current lease from Overview when you need more time. |
| On demand | Sleeps after a period without platform-observed activity and wakes on the next visit. | The first visit after sleeping waits for a cold start. |
For Timed, set Lease length. For On demand, set Idle timeout. Enter whole minutes within the form's allowed range; the maximum policy duration is 24 hours. An empty field uses the server default. Choose Save changes to apply the setting.
Activity and sleep
On-demand activity means activity observed by Strive, such as data reads through the platform. Raw page traffic alone does not guarantee that the app stays awake. A browser tab can remain open while the app becomes eligible to sleep.
Overview labels a running on-demand app Sleeps when idle and a stopped one Asleep — wakes on visit. It does not show the timed app's manual Extend control because there is no manually extended fixed lease in this mode.
Policy versus a one-off extension
Settings defines the ongoing lifecycle policy. Extend in Overview adds time to the currently running timed lease. It does not rewrite the stored policy for future starts. A later policy change can replace the current grant, so choose the policy intentionally instead of using a rename or unrelated setting edit to adjust running time.
Lifecycle settings do not grant sharing access, activate an immutable release, or remove resources. Use Start and stop for runtime controls and Trash and restore when retiring an app.