Bulk export metadata mismatch for WhatsApp legal holds

General Discussion
1

How come this setting causes the recording metadata to be incomplete when pulling digital channel exports for legal discovery?

We are running a bulk export job for WhatsApp conversations using the /api/v2/recording-jobs endpoint. The requirement is strict chain of custody, so we need every message timestamp and participant ID included in the manifest. However, the resulting S3 files show missing fields for interaction_type and direction on approximately 15% of the records.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Create a recording job via the API with recording_type set to digital.
  2. Filter by date range covering the last 48 hours (London time).
  3. Select the S3 integration bucket configured for our legal hold workflow.
  4. Wait for job status to become COMPLETED.
  5. Download the manifest and compare it against the source data in the Admin console.

The error is not a failure code, but a data integrity issue. The job completes successfully with status 200, yet the JSON payload lacks critical fields. We have verified that the OAuth scope includes recording:read and recording:export. Is there a known limitation with WhatsApp message aggregation in the export engine, or is this a configuration issue on our S3 bucket permissions?

2

You need to adjust the export definition to explicitly request the full metadata payload, as the default bulk export configuration often strips non-essential fields to optimize file size and transfer speed. The missing interaction_type and direction fields are likely being excluded because the current job payload does not specify the required data format for digital channels. The Genesys Cloud API requires explicit inclusion of these attributes when handling WhatsApp records, otherwise the system defaults to a lightweight manifest that omits granular interaction details. This is a common configuration oversight when moving from voice-only exports to hybrid digital channels.

{
 "job_type": "recording",
 "query": {
 "filter": "channel_type eq 'WHATSAPP'"
 },
 "include": [
 "metadata",
 "interaction_type",
 "direction",
 "participant_ids"
 ],
 "format": "json",
 "destination": {
 "type": "s3",
 "bucket": "legal-holds-bucket"
 }
}

Verify that the include array in your request body contains the specific fields required for chain of custody compliance. The API documentation notes that digital channel recordings require explicit metadata inclusion, unlike voice recordings which include these fields by default. If the fields remain missing after updating the payload, check the user’s permissions to ensure they have the recording:export privilege with full metadata access. Running a small test export with the updated configuration should confirm whether the metadata is now correctly populated in the S3 output. This approach ensures consistent data retrieval without relying on UI defaults.

3

If I remember correctly…

The default export payload strips those fields to save bandwidth. You need to explicitly add interaction_type and direction to the metadata array in your job request.

This worked for my load tests. Check the dataFormat settings too.

4

The documentation actually says…

that explicit metadata inclusion is required for digital channels. The default payload optimizes for size, stripping fields like interaction_type and direction.

For legal holds, you must define the full schema in the export job configuration. This ensures chain of custody compliance.

Omitting these fields causes the S3 manifest to drop critical participant data. Always validate the request body before submission.