# Retrieve from S3

<!-- meta: type=aws-retrieve-s3; location=Cloud › AWS; category=Step (action); platforms=Joomla and WordPress (where applicable) -->

## Overview

Retrieve from S3 is a **Step (action)** in **Cloud › AWS**. Downloads an object from S3 (GetObject).

When the flow reaches this step, JOrchestrator executes **Retrieve from S3** against your linked site or an external integration, using the field values you set on **General** and **Design**. Downstream steps can read the output payload fields defined for this node.

## Why use this node

Retrieve from S3 is a **action step** in the **Cloud › AWS** group. Action steps run in the middle or end of a flow. They perform work on your CMS, call external services, or transform data for the next step.

Typical reasons teams add **Retrieve from S3** to a flow:

- Automate "Retrieve from S3" as part of a larger Joomla or WordPress workflow
- Replace manual aws work with a repeatable, logged flow step
- Chain with triggers, logic, and messaging nodes on the same canvas

## Example workflows

Common patterns on the canvas:

1. **Trigger or Webhook** → upstream steps → **Retrieve from S3** → **Send Email** or CMS update
2. **Scheduled trigger** → **Retrieve from S3** → **Debug** (while testing) → production action

## How to set it up

Bucket, key, and region; credentials from Node Configuration → AWS.

## Good to know

Large objects increase flow runtime and memory — consider streaming use cases outside the flow.

## Properties panel

The designer shows these tabs for this node:

| Tab | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| **Info** | Plain-language description and output payload fields for downstream steps |
| **General** | Canvas label and read-only node ID |
| **AI** | Optional assistant to help draft settings from plain language |
| **Design** | Node-specific configuration fields |

### System (automatic — not edited by the user)

These fields are managed by the designer or runtime — you do not type into them directly:

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `_nodeId` | Node ID | `node-id` | No | — | — |
| `_payloadFields` | Available Fields | `payload-panel` | No | — | — |

### User-configured — General tab

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `label` | Label | `text` | No | — | Node label |

### User-configured — Design tab

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `bucket` | S3 bucket | `payload-text` | **Yes** | — | my-bucket |
| `objectKey` | Object key | `payload-text` | **Yes** | — | path/to/file.json |
| `bodyEncoding` | Response body encoding | `select` (`auto` \| `text` \| `base64`; default: `auto`) | No | — | — |

### CMS site configuration (not on this node's properties panel)

Credentials, API keys, mailers, SMTP, and integration defaults are configured in the CMS plugin under **Node Configuration**, not per step on this node. Link the flow to a domain before testing CMS-backed fields.

## Output payload fields

After this step runs, later nodes can reference these fields using placeholders such as
`{{retrieve_from_s3.success}}`.

| Field key | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `success` | boolean | Whether the operation completed successfully. |
| `bucket` | string | Cloud storage bucket name. |
| `objectKey` | string | Object key/path within the bucket. |
| `body` | string | File bytes — base64 when Body encoding is auto/base64, raw bytes when text. Use {{node_id.body}} in Upload Media. |
| `bodyEncoding` | string | How body is encoded: base64 or text. |
| `contentType` | string | MIME type from S3 (use with Upload Media for extension detection). |
| `etag` | string | Entity tag (checksum) from cloud storage. |
| `byteLength` | number | Size of retrieved content in bytes. |
| `message` | string | Human-readable status, error, or result summary. |

## Validation rules

- **S3 bucket** (`bucket`) must be filled before the flow can be saved.
- **Object key** (`objectKey`) must be filled before the flow can be saved.

## Related nodes

Other steps in the same area of the palette:

- **List S3 files** (`aws-list-s3`) — Cloud › AWS
- **Log to CloudWatch** (`aws-log-cloudwatch`) — Cloud › AWS
- **MediaConvert** (`aws-media-convert`) — Cloud › AWS
- **Upload to S3** (`aws-upload-s3`) — Cloud › AWS