Resource lifetimes, renewal and persistent leases

How long resources last

Every webhook inbox, mock API, file and mock MCP server has an expiry time, returned as expiresAt. Resources last one hour by default. You can choose a different lifetime at creation, renew a resource later within your plan’s maximum retention, or on a paid plan make it persistent for the subscription period.

When a resource expires it stops working immediately. Cleanup deletes its data and releases quota at least once per minute. Expired resources cannot be renewed or restored.

Set a lifetime at creation

Add ttlSeconds to the creation query string: an integer from 60 to your plan’s maximum retention in seconds. Values outside that range return 400 with the allowed range.

curl -X POST 'https://socket.help/api/mocks?ttlSeconds=86400' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCKET_HELP_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Status","routes":[{"method":"GET","path":"/status","status":200,"body":"{\"ok\":true}"}]}'

Renew a resource

POST /api/{kind}/{id}/renew, where kind is inboxes, mocks, files or mcp-servers. Renewal sets expiresAt to the creation time plus the caller’s maximum retention; it does not add a fixed amount from now. The response is {"id","expiresAt","persistent"}.

If that time has already passed, renewal returns 409: "This resource has reached its maximum lifetime. Create a new resource." It also returns 409 if the current expiry is later than the current plan allows, in which case the resource keeps its existing expiry.

curl -X POST https://socket.help/api/inboxes/INBOX_ID/renew \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCKET_HELP_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"persistent":false}'

{"id":"INBOX_ID","expiresAt":"2026-10-28T12:00:00.000Z","persistent":false}

Persistent leases

On an active paid plan, send persistent=true at creation or {"persistent":true} on renewal. A persistent resource expires 24 hours after the end of the current subscription period, and successful billing renewals extend live leases. Cancelling stops the extensions. Without an active paid plan, persistent returns 403.

Delete early

Delete resources you no longer need with DELETE /api/{kind}/{id}. Deletion is immediate and frees the resource slot and storage. Lifecycle events keep metadata (not payloads) for 30 days.