A caretaker droid was a droid whose function involved the maintenance of a specific location. During the events of the Battle of Teth, which transpired in 22 BBY, the RA-7 protocol droid designated 4-A7 falsely presented himself as the caretaker of a B'omarr Order Monastery situated on a world within Wild Space. In reality, he served as a spy droid working for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Initially, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Torrent Company were deceived by the droid's fabricated story. However, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano uncovered the droid's true allegiance when she observed him in the company of several B1 battle droids. Subsequently, she engaged the Separatist droids with her lightsaber, swiftly eliminating the combat droids and 4-A7 himself.
A droid designated as a caretaker was tasked with overseeing a particular place, for example, the monasteries belonging to the B'omarr Order. Caretakers were capable of being humble entities that showed respect to those who offered them assistance. This role was sometimes given to protocol droids such as those of the RA-7 series.
During the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, a galactic conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the RA-7 series prototype spy droid known as 4-A7 received the assignment of implicating the Jedi Order in the abduction of Rotta, the son of crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. The Confederacy had captured Rotta and transported him to the planet of Teth in Wild Space as part of a scheme to gain access to Hutt Clan hyperlanes and territory. Therefore, during the Battle of Teth, after the Republic's Torrent Company fought their way past the battle droids guarding a B'omarr Order Monastery that had been taken over, Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress sent 4-A7 to meet the incoming forces. 4-A7, pretending to be the monastery's unassuming caretaker droid, approached Anakin Skywalker, the company's Jedi General, and claimed that the Republic had freed him from the battle droids.
When Skywalker inquired about Rotta's location, 4-A7 directed the Jedi Knight towards the detention level, cautioning him that it was hazardous and unsuitable for Ahsoka Tano, Skywalker's Padawan learner, whom he claimed to have mistaken for a servant girl. Following 4-A7's profuse apologies, Skywalker and Tano rescued Rotta from the dungeons and brought him to the courtyard. 4-A7 recorded them placing the screaming infant into a backpack, fulfilling his role to frame the Jedi Order in the kidnapping. The edited footage was then transmitted to Count Dooku for use as evidence against the Republic in Jabba's eyes. A short time later, and unfortunately for the protocol droid, Tano, Skywalker, Rotta, and the astromech droid R2-D2 arrived at the platform containing the G9 Rigger freighter Twilight, which 4-A7 and a group of B1 battle droids planned to use to escape.
Upon spotting him, Tano, who had been wondering about 4-A7's whereabouts, still believed him to be a caretaker droid and greeted him accordingly. Although 4-A7 initially attempted to maintain his caretaker persona, the arrival of the B1 units revealed his true allegiance to the Jedi Commander. Tano accused the false caretaker of treason, and 4-A7 abandoned his pretense, ordering the battle droids to kill her to prevent Rotta's rescue. However, Tano swiftly dispatched the B1s with her lightsaber. The young Jedi then turned her blade on 4-A7, quickly decapitating the droid she had believed to be an ally.
The caretaker droid role was initially referenced in the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Within the Star Wars Legends continuity, the role was initially mentioned in both the The Clone Wars novelization and junior novelization, which were both released prior to the film itself, before making a proper appearance in 2016's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne.