Documentation

Missing allowedComponents in model.json After Upgrade to AEM 6.5 SP23

Last update: Wed Dec 03 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

In Adobe Experience Manager, after upgrading to Service Pack 23, the allowedComponents metadata is no longer included in the model.json export on publish instances. This behavior is due to changes in how AEM handles component policies during export. This article explains the reason behind the missing allowedComponents and its impact on integrations that depend on this metadata.

Description description

Environment

  • Product: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

  • Version: AEM 6.5 with Service Pack 23

  • Instances: Publish

  • Author (SP21):

    • allowedComponents visible in WCM Mode = edit
    • Visible when ?wcmmode=disabled

  • Author (SP23):

    • allowedComponents visible in WCM Mode = edit
    • Not visible when ?wcmmode=disabled

Issue/Symptoms

  • After upgrading to AEM 6.5 Service Pack 23 (SP23), the allowedComponents field is missing from model.json output on publish instances.

  • Behavior differs from previous service packs (e.g., SP21) where allowedComponents was consistently included.

  • Impacts all AEM JSON exports (*.model.json) that include container/layout components exposing allowedComponents. Affected json models:

    • Page-level exports such as:

      code language-none 
      /content/your-site/en/home.model.json
/content/your-site/en/landing-page.model.json

    • Container-level exports such as:

      code language-none 
      /content/your-site/en/home/_jcr_content/root.model.json
/content/your-site/en/home/_jcr_content/root/container.model.json
/content/your-site/en/home/_jcr_content/root/responsivegrid.model.json

Impact

  • allowedComponents is no longer present in any model.json response on publish instances.

  • AEM publish does not rely on this property for rendering; authored content is already resolved and stored.

  • Out-of-the-box rendering and page delivery are not broken by this change.

  • On author instance:

    • No impact in edit mode; allowedComponents remains visible.
    • Removed when ?wcmmode=disabled to align with delivery view.

This is a design change, not a bug.

Resolution resolution

In AEM 6.5 SP23, the allowedComponents field is intentionally removed from model.json responses on the publish side. This is expected behavior, not a bug. Any integrations that depend on this field must update accordingly.

Note: This is a temporary workaround.
• Clone an SP21 publisher, attach to Author replication agent.
• Publish content through this node, then dispatcher-cache JSON for external consumers.
• Suitable only as a short-term mitigation (cache flush removes file).

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