Bulk Clean Up Old Confluence Pages

What This Does

This runbook identifies Confluence pages that haven't been modified within a configurable time window. It supports three modes: dry-run to preview affected pages, label mode to tag them as "archived" for tracking, and delete mode to permanently remove them. The delete operation requires explicit confirmation to prevent accidental data loss.

Prerequisites

• atlassian-cli installed (install guide)
• Confluence authentication configured via atlassian-cli auth login
• Space admin permissions for delete operations

Quick Start

# Preview pages older than 1 year in DOCS space
./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --dry-run

# Add "archived" label to old pages
./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --label

# Delete old pages (requires typing DELETE to confirm)
./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --delete

Full Runbook Script

#!/bin/bash
# Confluence Bulk Cleanup Script
#
# Performs bulk operations on Confluence pages:
#   - Find old/archived pages using CQL
#   - Add "archived" labels for tracking
#   - Optionally bulk delete pages
#
# Usage:
#   # Dry run (preview what would be affected)
#   ./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --dry-run
#
#   # Add archived labels
#   ./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --label
#
#   # Delete old pages (requires confirmation)
#   ./bulk-cleanup.sh --space DOCS --days 365 --delete
#
# Requirements:
#   - atlassian-cli installed and configured

set -euo pipefail

# Default configuration
SPACE_KEY=""
DAYS_OLD=365
PROFILE="default"
DRY_RUN=true
ADD_LABELS=false
DELETE_PAGES=false
LABEL_NAME="archived"

# Colors
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
NC='\033[0m'

log() {
    echo -e "${GREEN}[INFO]${NC} $*"
}

warn() {
    echo -e "${YELLOW}[WARN]${NC} $*"
}

error() {
    echo -e "${RED}[ERROR]${NC} $*" >&2
}

# Parse command line arguments
parse_args() {
    while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
        case $1 in
            --space)
                SPACE_KEY="$2"
                shift 2
                ;;
            --days)
                DAYS_OLD="$2"
                shift 2
                ;;
            --profile)
                PROFILE="$2"
                shift 2
                ;;
            --label)
                ADD_LABELS=true
                DRY_RUN=false
                shift
                ;;
            --delete)
                DELETE_PAGES=true
                DRY_RUN=false
                shift
                ;;
            --dry-run)
                DRY_RUN=true
                shift
                ;;
            *)
                error "Unknown option: $1"
                exit 1
                ;;
        esac
    done

    if [ -z "$SPACE_KEY" ]; then
        error "Space key is required (--space SPACE_KEY)"
        exit 1
    fi
}

# Build CQL query for old pages
build_cql() {
    local cutoff_date
    cutoff_date=$(date -u -d "$DAYS_OLD days ago" +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || \
                  date -u -v-${DAYS_OLD}d +%Y-%m-%d)  # macOS fallback

    local cql="space = $SPACE_KEY AND type = page AND lastModified < $cutoff_date"

    echo "$cql"
}

# Preview affected pages
preview_pages() {
    local cql="$1"

    log "Finding pages matching criteria..."
    log "CQL: $cql"

    local results
    results=$(atlassian-cli confluence search cql \
        --profile "$PROFILE" \
        --output json \
        "$cql" 2>/dev/null || echo "[]")

    local count
    count=$(echo "$results" | jq '. | length')

    if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then
        warn "No pages found matching criteria"
        return 1
    fi

    log "Found $count pages to process"

    # Show sample pages
    echo ""
    echo "Sample pages (first 10):"
    echo "$results" | jq -r '.[:10][] | "  - \(.content.title) (ID: \(.content.id))"'
    echo ""

    return 0
}

# Add labels to matching pages
add_labels_bulk() {
    local cql="$1"

    if [ "$DRY_RUN" = "true" ]; then
        warn "[DRY-RUN] Would add '$LABEL_NAME' label to matching pages"
        return
    fi

    log "Adding '$LABEL_NAME' label to pages..."

    atlassian-cli confluence bulk add-labels \
        --profile "$PROFILE" \
        --cql "$cql" \
        --labels "$LABEL_NAME" \
        --concurrency 4

    log "Labels added successfully"
}

# Delete matching pages
delete_pages_bulk() {
    local cql="$1"

    if [ "$DRY_RUN" = "true" ]; then
        warn "[DRY-RUN] Would delete matching pages"
        return
    fi

    # Safety confirmation
    local count
    count=$(atlassian-cli confluence search cql \
        --profile "$PROFILE" \
        --output json \
        "$cql" | jq '. | length')

    warn "This will permanently delete $count pages!"
    read -rp "Type 'DELETE' to confirm: " confirm

    if [ "$confirm" != "DELETE" ]; then
        log "Deletion cancelled"
        return
    fi

    log "Deleting pages..."

    atlassian-cli confluence bulk delete \
        --profile "$PROFILE" \
        --cql "$cql" \
        --concurrency 2

    log "Pages deleted"
}

# Main execution
main() {
    parse_args "$@"

    log "Confluence Bulk Cleanup"
    log "Space: $SPACE_KEY | Age: $DAYS_OLD days | Profile: $PROFILE"

    if [ "$DRY_RUN" = "true" ]; then
        warn "DRY-RUN MODE: No changes will be made"
    fi

    # Build and preview
    local cql
    cql=$(build_cql)

    if ! preview_pages "$cql"; then
        exit 0
    fi

    # Execute operations
    if [ "$ADD_LABELS" = "true" ]; then
        add_labels_bulk "$cql"
    fi

    if [ "$DELETE_PAGES" = "true" ]; then
        delete_pages_bulk "$cql"
    fi

    log "Cleanup complete"
}

main "$@"

How It Works

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