The bulk export job keeps failing when the legal hold tags don’t align with the recording metadata chain. Genesys Cloud v24.4, S3 destination with bucket policy locked down. The /api/v2/recordings/bulkexport call returns a 400 Bad Request with ERROR_CODE: METADATA_CHAIN_BROKEN. Audit logs show the files are flagged before the export queue even picks them up.
Discovery pulls ran clean for two years, so the new retention policy update must be triggering it. The metadata signature validation is rejecting calls where the legal_hold flag gets applied after the initial SIP handshake. Chain of custody breaks right at the transcription polling stage.
Workaround for now involves wrapping the export trigger in a retry loop with a 45-second delay, plus manually syncing the hold tags via the WFM evaluation endpoint. Payload inspection shows the chain_of_custody_id field drops to null when the hold applies late.
The METADATA_CHAIN_BROKEN error usually points to a mismatch in the RETENTION POLICY assignment rather than the S3 bucket policy itself. We hit the exact same response code after a recent compliance update. Here is the breakdown of what we tested before isolating the configuration drift.
Tried: Re-running the /api/v2/recordings/bulkexport request with the exact same date range and LEGAL_HOLD scope.
Failed: The EXPORT QUEUE immediately rejected the payload with the chain validation error.
Tried: Adjusting the EXPORT QUEUE priority in the ADMIN UI to bypass the default retention check.
Failed: The recording metadata still lacked the required lineage tags.
The fix requires explicitly defining the metadata lineage in the request body. You can’t rely on the default ADMIN UI export wizard when legal hold overrides are active. It’s better to push the payload directly. Use this structure instead:
Sending this with the recordings:view and bulkexport:read OAuth scopes forces the pipeline to bypass the broken METADATA CHAIN check. We also had to reset the LEGAL HOLD TAGS mapping in the ADMIN UI under Administration > System Administration > Data Retention. The UI cache occasionally desyncs. Doesn’t always reflect the backend policy shift.
Did your compliance team push the RETENTION POLICY update through the API or directly via the ADMIN UI? The lineage resolver handles those differently. Check the audit trail again.
The suggestion above - about retention policy - is likely correct.
We’ve seen this when the retention rule is set to delete recordings before the legal hold duration. Check the duration field for the retention policy. It needs to be longer than your longest legal hold. Took like 2 hrs to debug.
edit: Also, verify the criteria field. It should only include legalHold.
tbh, the retention policy thing is almost always it. we’ve seen similar with the disposition rules too (it’s all tied together, somehow). double-check your retention policy criteria - make sure it’s just legalHold. also, look at the duration field - if it’s less than your longest legal hold, that’s definitely it. /api/v2/retentionpolicies should show you the details.
The root cause of the METADATA_CHAIN_BROKEN error - as the suggestion above indicates - almost invariably stems from a discrepancy between the retention policy config and the legal hold duration. The export queue effectively validates that recordings subject to legal hold will remain accessible for the duration of that hold. If the retention policy is configured to delete recordings before the legal hold expires, the system rightly flags this as a broken metadata chain.
We’ve observed this repeatedly during prod deployments of new retention policies. To repro, examine the duration field on /api/v2/retentionpolicies. It must exceed the maximum legal hold duration configured within your org. verify that the criteria field is exclusively legalHold. Any additional criteria - even seemingly innocuous ones - can disrupt the validation process. This config drift is particularly subtle because the S3 bucket policy itself is likely functioning as expected.