---
title: add_policies() | Tiger Data Docs
description: Add refresh, compression, and data retention policies on a continuous aggregate
---

Early access [2.10.0](https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.10.0)

Add refresh, compression, and data retention policies to a continuous aggregate in one step. The added compression and retention policies apply to the continuous aggregate, *not* to the original hypertable.

```
timescaledb_experimental.add_policies(
     relation REGCLASS,
     if_not_exists BOOL = false,
     refresh_start_offset "any" = NULL,
     refresh_end_offset "any" = NULL,
     compress_after "any" = NULL,
     drop_after "any" = NULL)
) RETURNS BOOL
```

Note

`add_policies()` does not allow the `schedule_interval` for the continuous aggregate to be set, instead using a default value of 1 hour.

If you would like to set this add your policies manually (see [`add_continuous_aggregate_policy`](/docs/reference/timescaledb/continuous-aggregates/add_continuous_aggregate_policy/index.md)).

## Samples

Given a continuous aggregate named `example_continuous_aggregate`, add three policies to it:

1. Regularly refresh the continuous aggregate to materialize data between 1 day and 2 days old.
2. Compress data in the continuous aggregate after 20 days.
3. Drop data in the continuous aggregate after 1 year.

```
SELECT timescaledb_experimental.add_policies(
    'example_continuous_aggregate',
    refresh_start_offset => '1 day'::interval,
    refresh_end_offset => '2 day'::interval,
    compress_after => '20 days'::interval,
    drop_after => '1 year'::interval
);
```

## Arguments

The syntax is:

```
SELECT timescaledb_experimental.add_policies(
    relation = '<view_name>',
    refresh_start_offset = <interval>,
    refresh_end_offset = <interval>,
    compress_after = <interval>,
    drop_after = <interval>
);
```

| Name                   | Type                    | Default | Required | Description                                                                                                                                       |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------- | ------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `relation`             | `REGCLASS`              | -       | ✔        | The continuous aggregate that the policies should be applied to                                                                                   |
| `if_not_exists`        | `BOOL`                  | false   | -        | When true, prints a warning instead of erroring if the continuous aggregate doesn’t exist.                                                        |
| `refresh_start_offset` | `INTERVAL` or `INTEGER` | -       | -        | The start of the continuous aggregate refresh window, expressed as an offset from the policy run time.                                            |
| `refresh_end_offset`   | `INTERVAL` or `INTEGER` | -       | -        | The end of the continuous aggregate refresh window, expressed as an offset from the policy run time. Must be greater than `refresh_start_offset`. |
| `compress_after`       | `INTERVAL` or `INTEGER` | -       | -        | continuous aggregate chunks are compressed if they exclusively contain data older than this interval.                                             |
| `drop_after`           | `INTERVAL` or `INTEGER` | -       | -        | continuous aggregate chunks are dropped if they exclusively contain data older than this interval.                                                |

For arguments that could be either an `INTERVAL` or an `INTEGER`, use an `INTERVAL` if your time bucket is based on timestamps. Use an `INTEGER` if your time bucket is based on integers.

## Returns

Returns `true` if successful.