Keeping PDIs Available for Active Builders: Upcoming PDI Reclamation Changes

[ServiceNow]

Lately, it’s become harder for developers to get a Personal Developer Instance (PDI) when they need one.

Demand has outpaced capacity, and inactive instances are preventing builders from getting access. 

That’s why we’re reclaiming inactive PDIs as one step in a broader effort to make PDIs more consistently available for developers who are actively building.  

We know these changes may be frustrating for some developers, but it’s an important step toward improving access across the developer community.  

Here’s what’s changing and how to protect your work. 

What's Changing

We're reclaiming PDIs that meet both of these conditions: 

• 90 days or older (based on when they were provisioned) 
• Haven't had a PDI login in the last 10 days 

Background processes and developer site logins don’t count toward activity. An explicit login to your PDI is required.  

How You'll Know if You’re Affected 

No one’s PDI will be reclaimed without advance notice. If your PDI is eligible for reclamation, you’ll receive three email notifications: 

1. July 7: First notification  
2. July 10: Reminder sent one day before reclamation 
3. July 11: Reclamation notification  

If you've received a PDI reclamation email, plan for your PDI to be reclaimed even if you log in after receiving the notification. Please back up anything you want to keep before your scheduled reclaim date. 

How to Protect Your Work 

Before your PDI is reclaimed, make sure you’ve backed up anything you want to keep: 

• Export your update sets. 
• Connect scoped apps to source control. 
• Export custom data you'll want later. 
• Save attachments and configurations. 
• Back up custom scripts and properties. 

PDIs are designed for experimentation, learning, and short-term projects. Regular backups are the best way to preserve your work. For detailed backup instructions, see How to Back Up Your Personal Developer Instance (PDI). 

Where This Is Headed 

Reclaiming inactive PDIs is just one step in a broader effort to improve PDI availability for developers. 

We’re also evaluating improvements to the underlying PDI infrastructure to provide a more reliable and performant developer experience. 

We’ll continue monitoring how well these changes improve access for developers while evaluating additional improvements. As those plans are finalized, we’ll share updates with the Community. 

Questions? Let us know in the comments below. 

[patriciaViolet]

I was activly using my PDI and it was reclaimed anyway. This is so frustrating

[Community Alums]

Same here, I use my almost every day and it was reclaimed, so I don't think the condition of login frecuently was one condition. 

Please clarify why all PDI were claimed. 

[Angel Reyes]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some community guidance on a strange PDI issue I’ve encountered.

Here’s the timeline of events:

1. I recently had trouble logging in and received messages that my instance was offline.
   

2. Four days ago, I received an official email confirming: "Your personal development instance: dev266397 is now available. We apologize if the recent unavailability has impacted you in any way..."
   

3. Today, when I logged in, the instance no longer appears on my dashboard. The only option available is to request a new one, which placed me back on the waitlist.

For context, I have been actively using this instance and didn’t receive any reclamation warnings prior to this happening.  

Has anyone else experienced an active instance disappearing right after receiving a restoration email? If so, were you able to recover it, or did you have to start over with a new one?

I realize the Developer Program admins are busy, but if anyone knows the best way to request a specific review for dev266397 —or if I should simply wait out the new waitlist—I would really appreciate the advice.

Thanks in advance for any insight or suggestions!

[Jayden4]

Sending out notifications on a Public Holiday in New Zealand to come back on Monday and find they have been deleted even though they are logged into and built on every Monday and Tuesday 10/10 great job. 

[glideFather]

@ServiceNow , could you possibly explain the following?

"We're reclaiming PDIs that meet both of these conditions:

90 days or older (based on when they were provisioned)
Haven't had a PDI login in the last 10 days"

If it requires both conditions, then the 90-days one is obsolete no? If you are inactive for 10 days, it's reclaimed but if you log in every 9th day for more than 90 days, will I still be able to keep my instance?

Or how should I understand the 90 days? 

[ralvarez]

My PDI was reclaimed in this week's wave, so let me second the advice in this post: regular backups are the real answer, not just keeping the login alive.

For anyone who prefers that automated: we published Instance Backup on Share (free). You define what to export per table with the condition builder, it runs on a schedule, produces standard update set XML ready to commit on a new PDI, and can push each backup to external storage so it survives the reclaim itself.

[ralphwu]

I logged in the developer portal, can see the instance is online., however when I click "manage instance". The new page for the instance just keep loading (blank page only). What is happening ? Will my PDI being reclaimed ?

Anyone can assist ?

[Rosa Montes]

@ServiceNow  - my instance was reclaimed yesterday (7/12), even though I logged into it on Friday (7/10) and I was updating all the plugins (it took almost 2 hours!) and also installed new ones (Discovery, Service Mapping) I just had to request a new one and now I'm on the waiting list. This is not ok! 

[Daniel Madsen]

I understand it this way: If it is 90 days or more since the PDI instance was provisioned to you, it will be reclaimed if you do not log in to the instance at least every 10 days. It explicitly states that both conditions needs to be true for the reclaim to happen, with both being highliged with bold font, emphasizing that both conditions should be true for the reclaim to happen. Based on that wording, my interpretation is that an older PDI can be kept indefinitely, provided you log in to the actual instance at least once every 10 days. Did others interpret it the same way?

[Nicholasgan]

I got an email through on Saturday around my instance being reclaimed on the 14th (tomorrow). There was no suggestion around it being possible to keep it, which is a bit of a pain as I was hoping I would be able to extend

This is a PDI that's over 90 days old but it's also actively used, so I wouldn't have met the conditions above. Has anyone else got a similar email?

@Daniel Madsen , your interpretation is correct in that it should be possible to keep a PDI indefinitely but the response just above yours indicates this might not be happening in practice.