Dotcms Event Surface

generated: '2026-09-06'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://dev.dotcms.com/docs/build/apis/api-basics/webhooks,
  openapi/dotcms-rest-api-openapi.json
spec_type: none
asyncapi_published: false
description: >-
  dotCMS has an event surface, but it is not the shape the AsyncAPI family expects and there is
  no AsyncAPI document to harvest — probed and confirmed absent, not assumed. What exists is two
  distinct things: a server-sent-events streaming surface declared inside the REST contract, and
  a webhook mechanism that is entirely author-defined. The second is the interesting one, and it
  is a genuine architectural choice rather than a gap, so it is recorded as what it is rather
  than scored as a missing event catalogue.
probes:
- url: https://demo.dotcms.com/asyncapi.yaml
  status: 404
- url: https://dev.dotcms.com/docs/asyncapi
  status: 404
- url: https://dev.dotcms.com/docs/build/apis/api-basics/webhooks
  status: 200
webhooks:
  published: true
  docs: https://dev.dotcms.com/docs/build/apis/api-basics/webhooks
  model: author-defined
  catalog: none
  event_types: []
  mechanism: >-
    dotCMS ships no predefined webhook event list. Webhooks are attached at any point in the
    content lifecycle by adding a Velocity Script Sub-Action (or a custom Java workflow action
    plugin) to a Workflow Action; when that action fires, the script calls the remote endpoint
    using the $json Velocity tool. The author controls the URL, method, headers, parameters and
    the field-to-payload mapping, and has access to workflow metadata (user, action name, next
    step).
  provider_rationale: >-
    "Since every 3rd party system has different hooks which require different parameters, methods
    and HTTP headers, the ability to script when and how dotCMS fires webhooks is a very powerful
    and flexible tool."
  delivery_semantics:
    retries: not documented
    signing: not documented
    secrets: not documented
    ordering: not documented
    at_least_once: not documented
  consumer_impact: >-
    Because the webhook is written per-installation, no two dotCMS deployments emit the same
    payload, and there is nothing stable for a catalogue or an AsyncAPI document to describe. An
    integrator cannot subscribe to "dotCMS content published" the way they can with a SaaS CMS —
    they (or the site's administrator) must author the workflow sub-action first. That is the
    trade dotCMS has made: maximum flexibility, zero out-of-the-box contract. Recorded plainly
    because it changes how an agent should plan an integration.
streaming:
  published: true
  transport: server-sent-events
  media_type: text/event-stream
  declared_in: openapi/dotcms-rest-api-openapi.json
  channels:
  - operationId: streamA11yAgentFix
    method: POST
    path: /api/v1/agents/a11y/fix/stream
    summary: Run the accessibility fix agent, streaming progress over SSE.
  - operationId: monitorContentImportJobs
    method: GET
    path: /api/v1/content/_import/{jobId}/monitor
    summary: Monitor a content import job in real-time.
  - operationId: monitorJob
    method: GET
    path: /api/v1/jobs/{jobId}/monitor
    summary: Monitor a job in real time.
  - operationId: getLogs
    method: GET
    path: /api/v1/logs/{fileName}/_tail
    summary: Tail a server log file.
  note: >-
    These are progress streams for long-running operations, not a domain event bus — an agent
    that fires a bulk import or an accessibility fix can watch it complete instead of polling.
    Useful, and genuinely asynchronous, but they carry no published message schemas, so no
    AsyncAPI channels could be derived from them without inventing the payloads.
push_publishing:
  note: >-
    dotCMS's own instance-to-instance propagation (Push Publishing: bundles, environments,
    endpoints — 32 operations in the spec) is an internal distribution mechanism between dotCMS
    servers, not a subscribable event stream for third parties. Noted so it is not mistaken for
    one.
asyncapi_applicability: >-
  A provider with no subscribable event contract is not penalised for lacking an AsyncAPI
  document, and none was fabricated. What IS recorded is the webhook surface dotCMS documents,
  and the four SSE channels its own contract declares.