From f078df78058ae82a02ce5b23e9e3a99a0917a53d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mark Backman <mark@daily.co>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:16:25 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] runner: expire Daily rooms after 4h to mirror Pipecat
 Cloud session limit

Runner-created Daily rooms previously had no expiration when callers
posted partial `dailyRoomProperties` (e.g. `{"start_video_off": true}`).
The model-default `exp=None` and `eject_at_room_exp=False` meant Daily's
cron never cleaned them up, so rooms accumulated indefinitely.

Encode the policy in the runner: define `PIPECAT_CLOUD_ROOM_EXP_HOURS=4.0`,
inject `exp` and `eject_at_room_exp=True` into user-supplied properties via
`setdefault` (so explicit caller values still win), and pass
`room_exp_duration` to all four `configure()` call sites.
---
 src/pipecat/runner/run.py | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/pipecat/runner/run.py b/src/pipecat/runner/run.py
index a53dea519..be0b8575e 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/runner/run.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/runner/run.py
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ import asyncio
 import mimetypes
 import os
 import sys
+import time
 import uuid
 from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from http import HTTPMethod
@@ -106,6 +107,9 @@ os.environ["ENV"] = "local"
 
 TELEPHONY_TRANSPORTS = ["twilio", "telnyx", "plivo", "exotel"]
 
+# Mirror Pipecat Cloud's 4-hour max session limit so dev rooms get cleaned up.
+PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS = 4.0
+
 RUNNER_DOWNLOADS_FOLDER: str | None = None
 RUNNER_HOST: str = "localhost"
 RUNNER_PORT: int = 7860
@@ -546,7 +550,7 @@ def _setup_daily_routes(app: FastAPI, args: argparse.Namespace):
         from pipecat.runner.daily import configure
 
         async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
-            room_url, token = await configure(session)
+            room_url, token = await configure(session, room_exp_duration=PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS)
 
             # Start the bot in the background with empty body for GET requests
             bot_module = _get_bot_module()
@@ -604,6 +608,11 @@ def _setup_daily_routes(app: FastAPI, args: argparse.Namespace):
                 # Parse dailyRoomProperties if provided
                 room_properties = None
                 if daily_room_properties_dict:
+                    # Apply Pipecat Cloud's session policy if caller didn't override.
+                    daily_room_properties_dict.setdefault(
+                        "exp", time.time() + PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS * 3600
+                    )
+                    daily_room_properties_dict.setdefault("eject_at_room_exp", True)
                     try:
                         room_properties = DailyRoomProperties(**daily_room_properties_dict)
                         logger.debug(f"Using custom room properties: {room_properties}")
@@ -624,7 +633,10 @@ def _setup_daily_routes(app: FastAPI, args: argparse.Namespace):
                         # Continue without custom properties
 
                 room_url, token = await configure(
-                    session, room_properties=room_properties, token_properties=token_properties
+                    session,
+                    room_exp_duration=PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS,
+                    room_properties=room_properties,
+                    token_properties=token_properties,
                 )
                 runner_args = DailyRunnerArguments(room_url=room_url, token=token, body=body)
                 result = {
@@ -699,7 +711,11 @@ def _setup_daily_routes(app: FastAPI, args: argparse.Namespace):
             # Create Daily room with SIP capabilities
             async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
                 try:
-                    room_config = await configure(session, sip_caller_phone=data.get("From"))
+                    room_config = await configure(
+                        session,
+                        sip_caller_phone=data.get("From"),
+                        room_exp_duration=PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS,
+                    )
                 except Exception as e:
                     logger.error(f"Failed to create Daily room: {e}")
                     raise HTTPException(
@@ -819,7 +835,7 @@ async def _run_daily_direct(args: argparse.Namespace):
     logger.info("Running with direct Daily connection...")
 
     async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
-        room_url, token = await configure(session)
+        room_url, token = await configure(session, room_exp_duration=PIPECAT_ROOM_EXP_HOURS)
 
         # Direct connections have no request body, so use empty dict
         runner_args = DailyRunnerArguments(room_url=room_url, token=token)

From ef183d0c96361d5455575a948eed95b032bf2acb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mark Backman <mark@daily.co>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:17:03 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Add changelog for #4374

---
 changelog/4374.changed.md | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
 create mode 100644 changelog/4374.changed.md

diff --git a/changelog/4374.changed.md b/changelog/4374.changed.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30ef7f2b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/4374.changed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Daily rooms created by the development runner (`pipecat.runner.run`) now expire after 4 hours with `eject_at_room_exp=True`, mirroring Pipecat Cloud's max session limit. Previously, runner-created rooms inherited a 2-hour expiration on the default code paths and had no expiration at all when callers posted partial `dailyRoomProperties` (e.g. `{"start_video_off": true}`) to `/start`, causing rooms to accumulate indefinitely. Explicit `exp` and `eject_at_room_exp` values in `dailyRoomProperties` are still respected.