What?

This PR introduces complete trash (soft-delete) support. When a collection is configured with trash: true, documents can now be soft-deleted and restored via both the API and the admin panel.

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

const Posts: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'posts',
  trash: true, // <-- New collection config prop @default false
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'title',
      type: 'text',
    },
    // other fields...
  ],
}

Why

Soft deletes allow developers and admins to safely remove documents without losing data immediately. This enables workflows like reversible deletions, trash views, and auditing—while preserving compatibility with drafts, autosave, and version history.

How?

Backend

• Adds new trash: true config option to collections.
• When enabled:
  • A deletedAt timestamp is conditionally injected into the schema.
  • Soft deletion is performed by setting deletedAt instead of removing the document from the database.
• Extends all relevant API operations (find, findByID, update, delete, versions, etc.) to support a new trash param:
  • trash: false → excludes trashed documents (default)
  • trash: true → includes both trashed and non-trashed documents
  • To query only trashed documents: use trash: true with a where clause like { deletedAt: { exists: true } }
• Enforces delete access control before allowing a soft delete via update or updateByID.
• Disables version restoring on trashed documents (must be restored first).

Admin Panel

• Adds a dedicated Trash view: /collections/:collectionSlug/trash
• Default delete action now soft-deletes documents when trash: true is set.
• Delete confirmation modal includes a checkbox to permanently delete instead.
• Trashed documents:
  • Render in a read-only edit view
  • Still allow access to Preview, API, and Versions tabs
• Adds new Restore bulk action to clear the deletedAt timestamp.
• Adds Empty Trash and Delete permanently bulk actions.

Notes

• This feature is completely opt-in. Collections without trash: true behave exactly as before.