diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 927a7dc..46510a7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@
 /tmp/
 .DS_Store
 test/dummy/log/*.log
+test/dummy/db/*.sqlite3
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b235e3c..8276909 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ You can configure Solid Errors via the Rails configuration object, under the `so
 * `email_to` - The email address(es) to send a notification to. See [Email notifications](#email-notifications) for more information.
 * `email_subject_prefix` - Prefix added to the subject line for email notifications. See [Email notifications](#email-notifications) for more information.
 * `base_controller_class` - Specify a different controller as the base class for the Solid Errors controller. See [Authentication](#authentication) for more information.
+* `destroy_after` - If set, Solid Errors will periodically destroy resolved records that are older than the value specified. See [Automatically destroying old records](#automatically-destroying-old-records) for more information.
 
 ### Database Configuration
 
@@ -256,6 +257,20 @@ config.solid_errors.email_subject_prefix = "[#{Rails.application.name}][#{Rails.
 
 If you have set `send_emails` to `true` and have set an `email_to` address, Solid Errors will send an email notification whenever an error occurs. If you have not set `send_emails` to `true` or have not set an `email_to` address, Solid Errors will not send any email notifications.
 
+#### Automatically destroying old records
+
+Setting `destroy_after` to a duration will allow Solid Errors to be self-maintaining by peridically destroying **resolved** records that are older than that value. The value provided must respond to `.ago`.
+
+```ruby
+# Automatically destroy records older than 30 days
+config.solid_errors.destroy_after = 30.days
+```
+
+```ruby
+# Automatically destroy records older than 6 months
+config.solid_errors.destroy_after = 6.months
+```
+
 ### Examples
 
 There are only two screens in the dashboard.
@@ -351,7 +366,7 @@ You can always take control of the views by creating your own views and/or parti
 
 ## Development
 
-After checking out the repo, run `bin/setup` to install dependencies. Then, run `rake test` to run the tests. You can also run `bin/console` for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.
+After checking out the repo, run `bin/setup` to install dependencies. Then, run `rake test` to run the tests. You can also run `bin/console` for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment. If you want to set up a local development database, run `rake db:migrate`.
 
 To install this gem onto your local machine, run `bundle exec rake install`. To release a new version, update the version number in `version.rb`, and then run `bundle exec rake release`, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and the created tag, and push the `.gem` file to [rubygems.org](https://rubygems.org).
 
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 5bb6087..66a8ce6 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
+require "bundler/setup"
+
+APP_RAKEFILE = File.expand_path("test/dummy/Rakefile", __dir__)
+load "rails/tasks/engine.rake"
+
 require "bundler/gem_tasks"
 require "rake/testtask"
+require "standard/rake"
+
+task default: %i[test standard]
 
 Rake::TestTask.new(:test) do |t|
   t.libs << "test"
   t.libs << "lib"
-  t.test_files = FileList["test/**/test_*.rb"]
+  t.test_files = FileList["test/**/*_test.rb"]
 end
-
-require "standard/rake"
-
-task default: %i[test standard]
diff --git a/app/models/solid_errors/occurrence.rb b/app/models/solid_errors/occurrence.rb
index 2c815b5..4f034e0 100644
--- a/app/models/solid_errors/occurrence.rb
+++ b/app/models/solid_errors/occurrence.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ class Occurrence < Record
     belongs_to :error, class_name: "SolidErrors::Error"
 
     after_create_commit :send_email, if: -> { SolidErrors.send_emails? && SolidErrors.email_to.present? }
+    after_create_commit :clear_resolved_errors, if: :should_clear_resolved_errors?
 
     # The parsed exception backtrace. Lines in this backtrace that are from installed gems
     # have the base path for gem installs replaced by "[GEM_ROOT]", while those in the project
@@ -23,5 +24,26 @@ def parse_backtrace(backtrace)
     def send_email
       ErrorMailer.error_occurred(self).deliver_later
     end
+
+    def clear_resolved_errors
+      transaction do
+        SolidErrors::Occurrence
+          .where(error: SolidErrors::Error.resolved)
+          .where(created_at: ...SolidErrors.destroy_after.ago)
+          .delete_all
+        SolidErrors::Error.resolved
+          .where
+          .missing(:occurrences)
+          .delete_all
+      end
+    end
+
+    def should_clear_resolved_errors?
+      return false unless SolidErrors.destroy_after
+      return false unless SolidErrors.destroy_after.respond_to?(:ago)
+      return false unless (id % 100).zero?
+
+      true
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/solid_errors.rb b/lib/solid_errors.rb
index 6fff7a2..c2a3788 100644
--- a/lib/solid_errors.rb
+++ b/lib/solid_errors.rb
@@ -10,36 +10,27 @@ module SolidErrors
   mattr_accessor :base_controller_class, default: "::ActionController::Base"
   mattr_writer :username
   mattr_writer :password
-  mattr_writer :send_emails
-  mattr_writer :email_from
-  mattr_writer :email_to
-  mattr_writer :email_subject_prefix
+  mattr_accessor :send_emails, default: false
+  mattr_accessor :email_from, default: "solid_errors@noreply.com"
+  mattr_accessor :email_to
+  mattr_accessor :email_subject_prefix
+  mattr_accessor :destroy_after
 
   class << self
     # use method instead of attr_accessor to ensure
-    # this works if variable set after SolidErrors is loaded
+    # this works if ENV variable set after SolidErrors is loaded
     def username
       @username ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_USERNAME"] || @@username
     end
 
+    # use method instead of attr_accessor to ensure
+    # this works if ENV variable set after SolidErrors is loaded
     def password
       @password ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_PASSWORD"] || @@password
     end
 
     def send_emails?
-      @send_emails ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_SEND_EMAILS"] || @@send_emails || false
-    end
-
-    def email_from
-      @email_from ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_EMAIL_FROM"] || @@email_from || "solid_errors@noreply.com"
-    end
-
-    def email_to
-      @email_to ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_EMAIL_TO"] || @@email_to
-    end
-
-    def email_subject_prefix
-      @email_subject_prefix ||= ENV["SOLIDERRORS_EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX"] || @@email_subject_prefix
+      send_emails && email_to.present?
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/solid_errors/subscriber.rb b/lib/solid_errors/subscriber.rb
index 05f6e46..2063250 100644
--- a/lib/solid_errors/subscriber.rb
+++ b/lib/solid_errors/subscriber.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def report(error, handled:, severity:, context:, source: nil)
 
       SolidErrors::Occurrence.create(
         error_id: record.id,
-        backtrace: error.backtrace.join("\n"),
+        backtrace: error.backtrace&.join("\n"),
         context: s(context)
       )
     end
diff --git a/test/dummy/Rakefile b/test/dummy/Rakefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a5ea73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dummy/Rakefile
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Add your own tasks in files placed in lib/tasks ending in .rake,
+# for example lib/tasks/capistrano.rake, and they will automatically be available to Rake.
+
+require_relative "config/application"
+
+Rails.application.load_tasks
diff --git a/test/dummy/config/database.yml b/test/dummy/config/database.yml
index fbf0653..cfa50d8 100644
--- a/test/dummy/config/database.yml
+++ b/test/dummy/config/database.yml
@@ -9,42 +9,15 @@ default: &default
   pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %>
   timeout: 5000
 
-primary: &primary
-  <<: *default
-  database: storage/<%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_ENV", "development") %>.sqlite3
-
-queue: &queue
-  <<: *default
-  migrations_paths: db/queue_migrate
-  database: storage/queue.sqlite3
-
-errors: &errors
-  <<: *default
-  migrations_paths: db/errors_migrate
-  database: storage/errors.sqlite3
-
 development:
   primary:
-    <<: *primary
-    database: storage/<%= `git branch --show-current`.chomp || 'development' %>.sqlite3
-  queue: *queue
-  errors: *errors
+    <<: *default
+    database: db/development.sqlite3
 
 # Warning: The database defined as "test" will be erased and
 # re-generated from your development database when you run "rake".
 # Do not set this db to the same as development or production.
 test:
   primary:
-    <<: *primary
+    <<: *default
     database: db/test.sqlite3
-  queue:
-    <<: *queue
-    database: db/queue.sqlite3
-  errors:
-    <<: *errors
-    database: db/errors.sqlite3
-
-production:
-  primary: *primary
-  queue: *queue
-  errors: *errors
diff --git a/test/dummy/db/errors.sqlite3 b/test/dummy/db/errors.sqlite3
deleted file mode 100644
index 3166839..0000000
Binary files a/test/dummy/db/errors.sqlite3 and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/test/dummy/db/migrate/20241115125349_add_solid_errors_tables.rb b/test/dummy/db/migrate/20241115125349_add_solid_errors_tables.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cded9a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dummy/db/migrate/20241115125349_add_solid_errors_tables.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+class AddSolidErrorsTables < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.1]
+  def change
+    create_table "solid_errors", force: :cascade do |t|
+      t.text "exception_class", null: false
+      t.text "message", null: false
+      t.text "severity", null: false
+      t.text "source"
+      t.datetime "resolved_at"
+      t.string "fingerprint", limit: 64, null: false
+      t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+      t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+      t.index ["fingerprint"], name: "index_solid_errors_on_fingerprint", unique: true
+      t.index ["resolved_at"], name: "index_solid_errors_on_resolved_at"
+    end
+
+    create_table "solid_errors_occurrences", force: :cascade do |t|
+      t.bigint "error_id", null: false
+      t.text "backtrace"
+      t.json "context"
+      t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+      t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+      t.index ["error_id"], name: "index_solid_errors_occurrences_on_error_id"
+    end
+
+    add_foreign_key "solid_errors_occurrences", "solid_errors", column: "error_id"
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/dummy/db/queue.sqlite3 b/test/dummy/db/queue.sqlite3
deleted file mode 100644
index 3166839..0000000
Binary files a/test/dummy/db/queue.sqlite3 and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/test/dummy/db/schema.rb b/test/dummy/db/schema.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f694bd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dummy/db/schema.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# This file is auto-generated from the current state of the database. Instead
+# of editing this file, please use the migrations feature of Active Record to
+# incrementally modify your database, and then regenerate this schema definition.
+#
+# This file is the source Rails uses to define your schema when running `bin/rails
+# db:schema:load`. When creating a new database, `bin/rails db:schema:load` tends to
+# be faster and is potentially less error prone than running all of your
+# migrations from scratch. Old migrations may fail to apply correctly if those
+# migrations use external dependencies or application code.
+#
+# It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
+
+ActiveRecord::Schema[7.1].define(version: 2024_11_15_125349) do
+  create_table "solid_errors", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.text "exception_class", null: false
+    t.text "message", null: false
+    t.text "severity", null: false
+    t.text "source"
+    t.datetime "resolved_at"
+    t.string "fingerprint", limit: 64, null: false
+    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+    t.index ["fingerprint"], name: "index_solid_errors_on_fingerprint", unique: true
+    t.index ["resolved_at"], name: "index_solid_errors_on_resolved_at"
+  end
+
+  create_table "solid_errors_occurrences", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.bigint "error_id", null: false
+    t.text "backtrace"
+    t.json "context"
+    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+    t.index ["error_id"], name: "index_solid_errors_occurrences_on_error_id"
+  end
+
+  add_foreign_key "solid_errors_occurrences", "solid_errors", column: "error_id"
+end
diff --git a/test/dummy/db/test.sqlite3 b/test/dummy/db/test.sqlite3
deleted file mode 100644
index 3166839..0000000
Binary files a/test/dummy/db/test.sqlite3 and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/test/models/solid_errors/occurrence_test.rb b/test/models/solid_errors/occurrence_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c994e7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/models/solid_errors/occurrence_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+require "test_helper"
+
+class SolidErrors::OccurrenceTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def teardown
+    SolidErrors.destroy_after = nil
+  end
+
+  test "do not destroy if destroy_after is not set" do
+    SolidErrors.destroy_after = nil
+    simulate_99_old_exceptions(:resolved)
+
+    assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Error.count }, +1 do
+      assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Occurrence.count }, +1 do
+        Rails.error.report(StandardError.new("oof"))
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  test "destroy old occurrences every 100 insertions if destroy_after is set" do
+    SolidErrors.destroy_after = 1.day
+    simulate_99_old_exceptions(:resolved)
+
+    assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Error.count }, 0 do
+      assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Occurrence.count }, 0 do
+        Rails.error.report(StandardError.new("oof"))
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  test "not destroy if errors are unresolved" do
+    SolidErrors.destroy_after = 1.day
+    simulate_99_old_exceptions(:unresolved)
+
+    assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Error.count }, +1 do
+      assert_difference -> { SolidErrors::Occurrence.count }, +1 do
+        assert_empty SolidErrors::Error.resolved
+        Rails.error.report(StandardError.new("oof"))
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def simulate_99_old_exceptions(status)
+    Rails.error.report(StandardError.new("argh"))
+    SolidErrors::Error.update_all(resolved_at: Time.current) if status == :resolved
+    SolidErrors::Occurrence.last.update!(id: 99, created_at: 1.day.ago)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/test_solid_errors.rb b/test/solid_errors_test.rb
similarity index 100%
rename from test/test_solid_errors.rb
rename to test/solid_errors_test.rb
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index e83f265..9fcf2e2 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -8,5 +8,3 @@
 ActiveRecord::Migrator.migrations_paths = [File.expand_path("../test/dummy/db/migrate", __dir__)]
 require "rails/test_help"
 require "solid_errors"
-
-require "minitest/autorun"