This guide documents the new AWS Wickr administration console, released on March 13, 2025. For documentation on the classic version of the AWS Wickr administration console, see [Classic Administration Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wickr/latest/adminguide-classic/what-is-wickr.html).

# Access retained data
<a name="retained-data"></a>

## S3 bucket structure
<a name="bucket-structure"></a>

Retained data is organized in your S3 bucket using a date-based hierarchy:

```
s3:{{//your-retention-bucket/}}
wickr-drs-encrypted/YYYY/MM/DD/<vgroupid>/{file | message | username}
```

## File naming conventions
<a name="file-naming"></a>

All files are: `{message sequence number}-{message id}.json` in the encrypted bucket. Files are `{message sequence number}-{message id}.bin`.

## Triggering on-demand decryption
<a name="decryption"></a>

Messages in S3 are encrypted with your KMS key. Complete the following procedure to use the **Step Functions** state machine to decrypt them on-demand.

**In the AWS console**:

1. Navigate to **Step Functions** in the AWS console.

1. Select the `DecryptionStateMachine`.

1. Choose **Start execution**.

1. Provide input JSON:

   ```
   {
    "startDate": {{"2026-06-03",}}
    "endDate": {{"2026-06-04",}}
    "vgroupid": {{"ABC123",}}
   }
   ```

1.  Monitor execution progress in real-time.

1.  Once complete, decrypted files appear in the decrypted bucket.

**In the AWS CLI**:

```
aws stepfunctions start-execution \
 —state-machine-arn arn:aws:states:us-east-1:123456789012:stateMachine:DecryptionStateMachine \
 —input '{
    "startDate": {{"2026-06-03",}}
    "endDate": {{"2026-06-04",}}
    "vgroupid": {{"ABC123",}}
```

## Reading decrypted files:
<a name="decrypted-files"></a>

You can read decrypted files directly from your decrypted S3 bucket.

```
import boto3
s3 = boto3.client({{'s3'}})
response = s3.get_object(
    Bucket={{'your-retention-bucket-decrypted'}},
    Key={{'wickr-drs/2026/03/20/vgroupid_ABC123/message1.txt'}}
)
content = response[{{'Body'}}].read().decode({{'utf-8'}})
print(content)
```