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S3 (Simple Storage Service)

CostCutter manages deletion of S3 buckets and all their contents.

Supported Resources

Resource Config Key What Gets Deleted
Buckets buckets All S3 buckets, including all objects, versions, and delete markers

Risk Levels

Resource Risk Impact
Buckets 🔴 High All data permanently deleted - objects, versions, delete markers

Data Loss Warning

S3 bucket deletion is irreversible. All objects, all versions, and all delete markers are permanently deleted. There is no recovery.

What Happens

Bucket Deletion Process

CostCutter follows this sequence for each bucket:

  1. List all object versions - Including current versions, non-current versions, and delete markers
  2. Delete all objects - Batch deletion of all versions
  3. Delete the bucket - Once empty, the bucket itself is deleted

Versioned Buckets

For buckets with versioning enabled:

  • All current object versions are deleted
  • All non-current (previous) versions are deleted
  • All delete markers are removed
  • The bucket is then deleted

Empty Buckets

Empty buckets are deleted directly without the object cleanup step.

Deletion Order

S3 buckets have no dependencies on other services:

flowchart TB
    BUCKET["S3 Bucket"] --> OBJECTS["Delete all objects"]
    OBJECTS --> DELETE["Delete bucket"]

S3 buckets are independent and can be deleted at any point in the execution order.

What Gets Deleted

Item Deleted?
Current object versions ✅ Yes
Non-current versions ✅ Yes
Delete markers ✅ Yes
Bucket policies ✅ Yes (with bucket)
Bucket ACLs ✅ Yes (with bucket)
Lifecycle rules ✅ Yes (with bucket)
Bucket tags ✅ Yes (with bucket)

Limitations

CostCutter's S3 handling does not:

  • Preserve buckets with specific tags or names
  • Handle cross-region replication (replicated objects in other buckets remain)
  • Manage S3 Access Points
  • Delete buckets with Object Lock enabled (AWS prevents deletion)
  • Handle buckets where deletion is blocked by bucket policy

Object Lock Buckets

If a bucket has Object Lock enabled with retained objects:

  • CostCutter will attempt deletion
  • AWS will reject the deletion
  • The error is logged, and CostCutter continues with other buckets

Example: S3 Only

# costcutter.yaml
aws:
  services:
    - s3
  region:
    - us-east-1

costcutter --dry-run --services s3

Important Considerations

Regional Behavior

S3 buckets are global resources but tied to a region. CostCutter:

  • Operates on buckets in the configured regions
  • Uses the bucket's region for all API calls

Large Buckets

For buckets with millions of objects:

  • Deletion may take significant time
  • CostCutter handles pagination automatically
  • AWS rate limits are respected with automatic retry

Cost Impact

Deleting a bucket eliminates:

  • Storage costs for all objects
  • Request costs for future operations
  • Data transfer costs for replication (if configured)