diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 90082b7..7997442 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -288,6 +288,47 @@ clean-release: clean
 	@./scripts/release/cleanup.sh state 2>/dev/null || true
 	@echo "$(OK) Release cleanup complete"
 
+# Clean ephemeral test data (safe, no confirmation needed)
+clean-ephemeral:
+	rm -rf data/.ephemeral/*
+	docker volume prune -f --filter "label=fetchml.data.lifecycle=ephemeral" 2>/dev/null || true
+	@echo "$(OK) Ephemeral data cleaned"
+
+# Clean dev environment completely
+clean-dev:
+	$(DC) -f deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml down -v --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true
+	rm -rf data/smoke/ data/.ephemeral/
+	@echo "$(OK) Dev environment cleaned"
+
+# Clean staging environment
+clean-staging: staging-down
+	rm -rf data/staging/
+	$(DC) -f deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml down -v 2>/dev/null || true
+	@echo "$(OK) Staging environment cleaned"
+
+# Clean all data (destructive - requires explicit CONFIRM=yes)
+clean-data:
+ifndef CONFIRM
+	$(error Run with CONFIRM=yes to proceed: make clean-data CONFIRM=yes)
+endif
+	rm -rf data/
+	docker volume prune -f
+	@echo "$(OK) All data cleaned"
+
+# Check lifecycle labels on containers and volumes
+check-labels:
+	@echo "=== Checking container lifecycle labels ==="
+	@docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' 2>/dev/null | xargs -I{} docker inspect {} \
+	  --format '{{.Name}}: {{index .Config.Labels "fetchml.data.lifecycle"}}' 2>/dev/null || true
+	@echo "=== Checking volume labels ==="
+	@docker volume ls --format '{{.Name}}' 2>/dev/null | xargs -I{} docker volume inspect {} \
+	  --format '{{.Name}}: {{index .Labels "fetchml.data.lifecycle"}}' 2>/dev/null || true
+
+# Check MinIO lifecycle policies
+check-minio-lifecycle:
+	@docker exec ml-dev-minio mc ilm list local/fetchml-snapshots 2>/dev/null || \
+	  echo "MinIO not running or bucket doesn't exist"
+
 prepare-release: clean-release
 	@./scripts/release/verify.sh
 	@echo "$(OK) Release preparation complete"
diff --git a/deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml b/deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml
index f23eb28..2116c49 100644
--- a/deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml
+++ b/deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ services:
     image: caddy:2-alpine
     container_name: ml-dev-caddy
     restart: unless-stopped
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "8080:80"
       - "8443:443"
@@ -16,10 +17,22 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       api-server:
         condition: service_healthy
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=proxy"
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          cpus: '0.5'
+          memory: 128M
+        reservations:
+          cpus: '0.25'
+          memory: 64M
   redis:
     image: redis:7-alpine
     container_name: ml-experiments-redis
     user: "999:999"
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "6379:6379"
     volumes:
@@ -31,6 +44,17 @@ services:
       interval: 30s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 3
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=cache"
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          cpus: '0.5'
+          memory: 512M
+        reservations:
+          cpus: '0.25'
+          memory: 256M
   api-server:
     build:
       context: ..
@@ -62,11 +86,21 @@ services:
       retries: 3
       start_period: 40s
     labels:
-      job: "api-server"
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=api"
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          cpus: '1.0'
+          memory: 512M
+        reservations:
+          cpus: '0.5'
+          memory: 256M
   # MinIO for local development (single-node filesystem backend)
   minio:
     image: minio/minio:latest
     container_name: ml-dev-minio
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "9000:9000"
       - "9001:9001"
@@ -83,19 +117,28 @@ services:
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
     restart: unless-stopped
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.data.max-age=168h"
+      - "fetchml.component=object-store"
 
   # Initialize minio bucket (runs once)
   minio-init:
     image: minio/mc:latest
     container_name: ml-dev-minio-init
+    pull_policy: always
     depends_on:
       minio:
         condition: service_healthy
+    volumes:
+      - ./minio/lifecycle-dev.json:/tmp/lifecycle.json:ro
     entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
     command:
       - |
         mc alias set local http://minio:9000 minioadmin minioadmin123 || exit 1
         mc mb -p local/fetchml-snapshots 2>/dev/null || echo "Bucket exists"
+        # Apply lifecycle policy for automatic cleanup
+        mc ilm import local/fetchml-snapshots /tmp/lifecycle.json 2>/dev/null || echo "Lifecycle policy may already exist"
         echo "MinIO initialized"
     restart: "no"
   worker:
@@ -140,8 +183,18 @@ services:
     # Native libs enabled via build tag: -tags native_libs
     privileged: true
     command: ["/usr/local/bin/worker", "-config", "/app/configs/worker.yaml"]
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=worker"
     deploy:
-      replicas: 2  # Scale to 2 workers for dev (adjust as needed)
+      replicas: 2
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          cpus: '2.0'
+          memory: 2G
+        reservations:
+          cpus: '1.0'
+          memory: 1G
 
   # Local profile: use pre-built images instead of building from source
   api-server-local:
@@ -166,6 +219,9 @@ services:
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 3
       start_period: 40s
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=api"
 
   worker-local:
     image: fetchml-worker:latest
@@ -185,6 +241,9 @@ services:
       - LOG_LEVEL=info
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=minioadmin
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=minioadmin123
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=worker"
     depends_on:
       redis:
         condition: service_healthy
diff --git a/deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml b/deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml
index 188f2ca..4ce59fb 100644
--- a/deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml
+++ b/deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: '3.8'
-
 # Staging environment Docker Compose
 # This environment is for pre-production validation
 # Data is persisted but isolated from production
@@ -8,6 +6,7 @@ services:
   caddy:
     image: caddy:2-alpine
     container_name: ml-staging-caddy
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "9080:80"
       - "9443:443"
@@ -22,6 +21,7 @@ services:
   redis:
     image: redis:7-alpine
     container_name: ml-staging-redis
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "6380:6379"
     volumes:
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ services:
   minio:
     image: minio/minio:latest
     container_name: ml-staging-minio
+    pull_policy: always
     ports:
       - "9002:9000"
       - "9003:9001"
@@ -76,18 +77,27 @@ services:
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
     restart: unless-stopped
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.data.max-age=168h"
+      - "fetchml.component=object-store"
 
   minio-init:
     image: minio/mc:latest
     container_name: ml-staging-minio-init
+    pull_policy: always
     depends_on:
       minio:
         condition: service_healthy
+    volumes:
+      - ./minio/lifecycle-staging.json:/tmp/lifecycle.json:ro
     entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
     command:
       - |
         mc alias set local http://minio:9000 ${MINIO_ROOT_USER:-minioadmin} ${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:-minioadmin123} || exit 1
         mc mb -p local/fetchml-snapshots-staging 2>/dev/null || echo "Bucket exists"
+        # Apply lifecycle policy for automatic cleanup
+        mc ilm import local/fetchml-snapshots-staging /tmp/lifecycle.json 2>/dev/null || echo "Lifecycle policy may already exist"
         echo "MinIO initialized for staging"
     restart: "no"
 
@@ -96,6 +106,7 @@ services:
       context: ../
       dockerfile: build/docker/simple.Dockerfile
     container_name: ml-staging-worker
+    pull_policy: always
     volumes:
       - ${DATA_DIR:-./data/staging}/logs:/logs
       - ${DATA_DIR:-./data/staging}/experiments:/data/experiments
@@ -116,6 +127,9 @@ services:
       - MINIO_ENDPOINT=minio:9000
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:-minioadmin}
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:-minioadmin123}
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=persistent"
+      - "fetchml.component=worker"
 
   # Audit log sink for staging (write-once store)
   audit-sink:
diff --git a/deployments/docker-compose.test.yml b/deployments/docker-compose.test.yml
index c3ad169..976cfa8 100644
--- a/deployments/docker-compose.test.yml
+++ b/deployments/docker-compose.test.yml
@@ -52,10 +52,26 @@ services:
       - REDIS_ADDR=redis:6379
     volumes:
       - ../../:/app
-      - api-logs:/logs
-      - api-experiments:/data/experiments
-      - api-active:/data/active
+      # Use tmpfs for test data - auto-cleanup on container stop
+      - type: tmpfs
+        target: /logs
+        tmpfs:
+          size: 100M
+          mode: 1777
+      - type: tmpfs
+        target: /data/experiments
+        tmpfs:
+          size: 500M
+          mode: 1777
+      - type: tmpfs
+        target: /data/active
+        tmpfs:
+          size: 200M
+          mode: 1777
       - go-mod-cache:/go/pkg/mod
+    labels:
+      - "fetchml.data.lifecycle=ephemeral"
+      - "fetchml.component=test-api"
     depends_on:
       redis:
         condition: service_healthy
@@ -68,7 +84,4 @@ services:
 
 volumes:
   ssh-config:
-  api-logs:
-  api-experiments:
-  api-active:
   go-mod-cache:
diff --git a/deployments/minio/lifecycle-dev.json b/deployments/minio/lifecycle-dev.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2cc6cea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployments/minio/lifecycle-dev.json
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{
+  "Rules": [
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-test-snapshots",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "Filter": {
+        "Prefix": "test-"
+      },
+      "Expiration": {
+        "Days": 1
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-temp-uploads",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "Filter": {
+        "Prefix": "temp/"
+      },
+      "Expiration": {
+        "Days": 1
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-incomplete-multipart",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload": {
+        "DaysAfterInitiation": 1
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/deployments/minio/lifecycle-staging.json b/deployments/minio/lifecycle-staging.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26d3f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployments/minio/lifecycle-staging.json
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+{
+  "Rules": [
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-staging-test-snapshots",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "Filter": {
+        "Prefix": "test-"
+      },
+      "Expiration": {
+        "Days": 1
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-staging-temp-uploads",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "Filter": {
+        "Prefix": "temp/"
+      },
+      "Expiration": {
+        "Days": 1
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "ID": "transition-staging-snapshots",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "Filter": {
+        "Prefix": "staging-"
+      },
+      "Expiration": {
+        "Days": 7
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "ID": "delete-incomplete-multipart",
+      "Status": "Enabled",
+      "AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload": {
+        "DaysAfterInitiation": 1
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/scripts/release/cleanup.sh b/scripts/release/cleanup.sh
index 646c806..2e54bf2 100755
--- a/scripts/release/cleanup.sh
+++ b/scripts/release/cleanup.sh
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ cleanup_docker() {
     
     # Stop all project-related containers
     $compose_cmd -f deployments/docker-compose.dev.yml down --volumes --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true
+    $compose_cmd -f deployments/docker-compose.staging.yml down --volumes --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true
     $compose_cmd -f deployments/docker-compose.test.yml --profile debug down --volumes --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true
     $compose_cmd -f deployments/docker-compose.prod.yml --profile smoke down --volumes --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true