> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.archivecircle.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Trusted contact share release

> How trusted contacts release recovery shares to a beneficiary session.

After death verification, trusted contacts can release their activated shares to a beneficiary recovery session.

## What the trusted contact does

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the trusted contact portal">
    The contact uses their portal link.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Unlock their private key">
    They enter the passphrase created during share activation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Unseal the share locally">
    The browser decrypts the contact-held share. The plaintext share is not sent to the server.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Re-encrypt to the beneficiary">
    The browser encrypts the share to the beneficiary recovery session public key.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit the release">
    Eternum stores the beneficiary-bound ciphertext in volatile recovery storage.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Release storage

Released shares are stored in volatile release Redis (never written to disk) with a 14-day time-to-live, so trusted contacts can release days or weeks apart. They are bound to a beneficiary recovery session and are not reusable across sessions.

<Info>
  The beneficiary's recovery key is kept in their browser, so recovery should be completed on the same device and browser. If a recovery session expires, the beneficiary may need to start a new session and ask contacts to release shares again.
</Info>