Vault Readiness Checklist

Before ingestion begins, your vault must pass these checks. We block regulated-mode writes until a valid readiness receipt exists.

1

Object Lock (Compliance Mode)

Prevents deletion or retention shortening—so even administrators can't rewrite history.

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Must be enabled at bucket creation. Compliance mode ensures even root cannot delete or shorten retention.

ObjectLockEnabled: true
ObjectLockConfiguration.ObjectLockRule.DefaultRetention.Mode: COMPLIANCE
2

Versioning

Preserves every version so audits can reference exact object generations.

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Required for Object Lock to function. Preserves all object versions.

VersioningConfiguration.Status: Enabled
3

Default Retention

Ensures objects inherit retention by default—no gaps caused by caller mistakes.

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Set a default retention (e.g., 7 years for SEC 17a-4). Applied to all objects unless overridden.

DefaultRetention.Days: 2555 # ~7 years
4

Write-only role

Allows ingestion to write, but blocks reads and deletes by design.

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IAM role we assume for ingest. Allow PutObject only. Deny Get, List, Delete, retention modification.

Allow: s3:PutObject (with If-None-Match)
Deny: s3:GetObject, s3:ListBucket, s3:DeleteObject
5

Break-glass role

Customer-controlled retrieval used only for drills and examiner requests.

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Customer-controlled IAM role for retrieval. Used during drills and examiner requests.

Allow: s3:GetObject, s3:ListBucketVersions, s3:GetObjectRetention
6

Production Kit escrow

Ensures the offline verifier/exporter is always available inside your account.

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Latest Production Kit release must exist in your tools bucket. Enables offline verification + export.

Readiness Receipt

Once all checks pass, we write an immutable Readiness Receipt to your vault. This proves the vault was compliant at ingestion start. Regulators can verify this receipt anytime.