AI Assistant does not list expected sites and returns unintended content paths
In AEM as a Cloud Service, the AI Assistant may list temporary or unintended content roots and omit your primary site when the site root page is missing the cq:conf (configuration) reference. Set the cq:conf property on the intended site root to the correct /conf configuration path to restore accurate site discovery.
Description description
Environment
This issue occurs in the following environment:
- Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service
- AEM Sites
- Author environments where AI Assistant is enabled
- AI Assistant configured with a Content MCP backend endpoint
Issue/Symptoms
- The AI Assistant returns ad hoc, test, or temporary content paths when you prompt it to list available sites.
- The primary production site is missing from the results.
- Only newer sites or sites created with correct configuration wiring appear.
- Temporary or test roots that have a cq:conf configuration appear as sites, while older roots without cq:conf do not.
Resolution resolution
Set the configuration reference on the intended site root page so that AEM recognizes it as a site.
For example, ensure that the site root page under /content has jcr:content/cq:conf set to the appropriate configuration path (such as /conf/your-site).
Follow these steps:
- In AEM author, navigate to the root page of the intended site under
/content. Open the site root page properties. For detailed steps, refer to Editing Page Properties. - Locate the configuration reference field that stores the
cq:confproperty. For more details, refer to Configurations and the Configuration Browser. - Set the configuration reference to the site configuration path under
/conf(for example,/conf/your-site). - Save the changes.
- Allow repository indexing and site discovery processes to complete.
- Open the AI Assistant panel for the environment.
- Prompt the assistant to list available sites and confirm that the intended site appears in the results.
Apply the configuration change in each environment where you expect the primary site to be detected by the AI Assistant, such as development, stage, and production.
Permissions mitigation for test or temporary roots
To prevent temporary or test roots (for example, /content/<site>-test) from appearing in AI Assistant results, restrict read permissions on those content paths for standard authoring roles. The AI Assistant respects AEM permissions and only surfaces paths the current user can read.
Recommended steps:
- Remove or limit read access for general authoring groups on test or ad hoc content roots.
- Ensure that only a small set of technical or admin groups retains read access to those paths.
Impact:
- Authors who previously had access to those test roots will no longer see them in the Sites console or via AI Assistant queries.
- No product defects are introduced; this is standard permission scoping based on your governance requirements.