diff --git a/src/message_api.cc b/src/message_api.cc
index 8693925..07eca57 100644
--- a/src/message_api.cc
+++ b/src/message_api.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "message_api.hh"
 #include <pEp/pEpEngine.h>
 #include <pEp/message_api.h>
+#include <pEp/sync.h>
 
 namespace pEp {
     namespace PythonAdapter {
@@ -65,6 +66,23 @@ namespace pEp {
         {
             ::config_keep_sync_msg(session, enabled);
         }
+
+        string sync_decode(object buffer)
+        {
+            Py_buffer src;
+            int result = PyObject_GetBuffer(buffer.ptr(), &src, PyBUF_CONTIG_RO);
+            if (result)
+                throw invalid_argument("need a contiguous buffer to read");
+
+            char *dst = NULL;
+            PEP_STATUS status = decode_sync_msg((char *) src.buf, src.len, &dst);
+            PyBuffer_Release(&src);
+            _throw_status(status);
+
+            string _dst(dst);
+            free(dst);
+            return _dst;
+        }
 #endif
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/message_api.hh b/src/message_api.hh
index 94fc9c8..fc8fa27 100644
--- a/src/message_api.hh
+++ b/src/message_api.hh
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ namespace pEp {
         int _color(int rating);
 #ifndef NDEBUG
         void _config_keep_sync_msg(bool enabled);
+        string sync_decode(object buffer);
 #endif
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/pEpmodule.cc b/src/pEpmodule.cc
index 66c26e9..d7fe418 100644
--- a/src/pEpmodule.cc
+++ b/src/pEpmodule.cc
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_MODULE(pEp)
     def("trustwords", &_trustwords, "calculate trustwords for two Identities");
 #ifndef NDEBUG
     def("config_keep_sync_msg", &_config_keep_sync_msg, "configure if sync messages are being kept or not");
+    def("sync_decode", &sync_decode, "decode sync message to XER/XML");
 #endif
 
     // key sync API