Upgrading from Sitecore JSS to the Sitecore Content SDK is no longer optional if you want access to the latest SitecoreAI features. If you want to see what you are missing out on, you can take a look at another post of mine. But while the benefits of the Content SDK are clear, the upgrade process itself can feel anything but.
That’s exactly why we built the SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant.
It takes a painful, repetitive process and turns it into something fast, safe, and predictable.
The problem with “the standard path”
Most JSS upgrades fail not because they’re hard, but because they’re repetitive and brittle. The Upgrade Assistant removes both problems.
If you’ve looked at the official upgrade guides, it probably looks pretty daunting, especially if you are coming from a stale JSS version. For every single version change you have to:
- Replace packages
- Refactor configuration
- Update breaking changes
- Chase down subtle Next.js and SDK differences
- Test, fix, verify
This can become repetitive and time consuming really quickly. Worse still, many of these steps are:
- Repetitive across projects
- Easy to get slightly wrong
What the Upgrade Assistant is
The SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant is a developer-focused toolset that helps automate and guide the transition from JSS applications to the Content SDK.
It combines a few fundamental types of tools:
- AI Agent-based workflows for higher-level upgrade decisions
- Traditional scripting for predictable, mechanical changes
- Linting, formatting, and automated testing, to catch bugs at the tool level and enforce industry best practices
- Organized documentation, for both Agent context and manual reference
- Hard-earned platform knowledge from real Content SDK upgrades and Next.js development
The goal isn’t a one-click miracle, but an Assistant guided and accelerated upgrade pathway.
How it works (at a high level)
AI Agent workflows
Each JSS implementation is different, and many tasks require real context and judgment such as:
- Identifying patterns in your app
- Deciding which migration strategy applies
- Understanding how your setup compares to best practices
- Differentiating between custom solution-based code and upgradeable Sitecore code
Trying to solve these problems with rigid, code-based scripts doesn’t work. Each JSS implementation is unique, and there will never be a true one-size-fits-all solution. The SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant comes with preconfigured, context driven, and guard railed agent workflows to deal with these amorphous tasks.
Traditional scripting for the boring (and risky) parts
AI Agents have been (and will continue to be) a game changer when it comes to automation. That said, not everything should be handled by an AI agent. When an upgrade task is extremely repeatable and precise, SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant leverages rock solid, hallucination free traditional scripts. Think tasks such as:
- Dependency swaps
- File restructuring
- Config updates
- Token replacement
Linting, formatting, and automated testing
Both Content SDK and Next.js come with technology specific rules, best practices, and verification tools. These are great and very helpful, but in the context of a code upgrade we need something a little more tailored and fine-tuned.
SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant includes custom upgrade specific rules and practices. Combing these with the ones above, we can automatically find and fix issues in the core platforms as well as issues relating specifically to upgrade rules or guides.
Think of it this way, instead of reading the upgrade guide and seeing a line like
In Layout.tsx, import SitecoreStyles and place the component after Scripts, as shown in the following example:
We can automatically check if this is true. This makes upgrading easier, but also provides confidence that no task, however small, was missed.
Organized documentation
There’s a ton of good information out there: best practices, breaking changes, code style guidance, and even the official upgrade docs. The problem isn’t availability; it’s finding the right information at the right time.
The SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant includes curated, organized documentation directly in the solution.
- No more hunting through blog posts and changelogs
- Relevant guidance is surfaced exactly when you need it
- The same documentation is used by both you and the AI agents
That means no guessing whether an agent relied on outdated or incomplete information. You can be confident the context it’s working from is accurate and intentional.
Built on real-world Content SDK and Next.js experience
Finally, and maybe most importantly, SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant is built and maintained by experienced developers that know the gotchas and edge cases of the upgrade process.
With real world experience in:
- JSS → Content SDK upgrades
- Hands-on development with the Content SDK,
- Modern Next.js architecture (including App Router patterns).
That means the Assistant doesn’t just “make it work”, it nudges your project toward current best practices, instead of carrying forward legacy decisions that no longer make sense.
Putting it all together (the real magic ✨)
Each of these building blocks is useful on its own. But the real power comes from bringing them together in one place and letting them work as a system instead of in isolation.
Think of it like this:
- A traditional script executes a task, then lints the result to catch errors
- An AI workflow finds the relevant files, then calls a script to do the actual work
- An AI agent reads documentation and checks your code to make sure nothing was missed
Once those pieces are connected, things get interesting.
Now imagine a more advanced flow:
JSS Component
↓
Copy component files into Content SDK project
↓
Load upgrade documentation (breaking changes)
↓
Apply agent rules (what must change, best practices)
↓
AI Upgrade Workflow
├─ Read docs and rules
├─ Create upgrade plan
├─ Upgrade code (preserve behavior)
├─ Apply SDK + Next.js best practices
└─ Build, lint, and test automatically
↓
Upgraded Content SDK Component
That might sound ambitious, but it’s not hypothetical.
This exact workflow is already part of the Sitecore Content SDK Upgrade Assistant, and you can see it running in the sneak-peek demo video below.
But I am not a developer, what does this do for me?
To put it simply:
🚀 Faster Upgrades.
The biggest win is speed.
By automating repeatable steps and guiding the tricky ones, the SitecoreAI SDK Upgrade Assistant can dramatically reduce the time it takes you to get from:
“We should upgrade someday” to “We’re running on the Content SDK.”
If you would like to know more, feel free to contact us