Sergey Yatsenko

Integrations — Vercel routing and microfrontends for Sitecore XM Cloud

A write up on routing strategies for Sitecore XM Cloud, comparing a Vercel-native approach against using Azure Front Door as an external entry point. The specific use case described: different departments hosting on different platforms (XM Cloud + Vercel vs Drupal + custom hosting). I detail how I leveraged Vercel's multi-zone capabilities to deploy microfrontends, allowing multiple independent Next.js apps (and even different CMS backends) to live under a single domain and compared it with my p...

Emerging Sitecore practice / (soon to be gold) Sitecore partner, which I'm leading this year and beyond

I've partnered with 7kingscode to act as a company CTO and lead the Sitecore practice to help win clients and deliver Sitecore projects in 2025 and beyond.

We're currently on track for Gold status. In 2025, our team secured and initiated four new Sitecore projects. My focus is on implementing an AI-assisted delivery model that cuts down costs, timelines and dev resources by 50-80%, compared to older delivery model without extensive use of AI. We're currently beating more established competit...

AI-Powered Stack — Series overview and roadmap

An overview/index for my "AI-Powered Stack" series, detailing how I transform a solo Sitecore architect into a full-cycle delivery team (one man + a team of AI agents) using agentic AI. It outlines the philosophy of the "Company of One," where a curated bench of AI agents—grounded in a strict project knowledge base (RAG)—handles the heavy lifting of Business Analysis, Project Management, and Architecture, while humans retain ownership of all critical decisions and scope.

The roadmap connects ...

Integrations — Streaming XM Cloud forms and events into Salesforce with Sitecore Connect

Describing a robust, event-driven architecture for capturing leads and engagement data from Sitecore XM Cloud and reliably streaming it into Salesforce using Sitecore Connect. This post dives into technical specifics including schema definition, idempotency keys for duplicate prevention, retry policies for fault tolerance, and considerations for PII/data residency.

I detailed a practical integration pattern where: Data Capture: XM Cloud Forms and custom front-end events are sent to a server-...

Integrations — Series overview and roadmap

Describing my "Integrations" blog post series, addressing the some of the integration architectural patterns and approaches I used in my Sitecore engagements, in the context of on the broader enterprise implementations.

• Business Data Flows: Architecting streams for forms and events from XM Cloud to Salesforce using Sitecore Connect.
• Edge Routing: Strategies for using Vercel Multi-Zones and microfrontends to manage complex, multi-site XM Cloud estates.
• Headless Delivery: A "no-sync" pa...

Integrations — Rendering Content Hub content directly via GraphQL

This post is a guide covering a "no-sync" architectural approach where Sitecore Content Hub serves as a direct headless CMS, bypassing the need to synchronize content into XM Cloud (bad pattern I witnessed on multiple projects and was able to replace with direct Edge APIs on some).

I provide a technical blueprint for rendering Content Hub data directly into a Next.js App Router application using GraphQL.

Covered topics:

• Architecture: When to choose direct delivery over synchronization t...

AI Workflows — Image generation and editing from Content Hub DAM

A write up on embedding AI image generation/editing directly into the Content Hub. Content Hub Actions trigger external AI services (such as Google and OpenAI image models) to generate or edit visuals based on user prompts, and then save the results back into Content Hub. I expect an easier integration approach for latest image models to come to Content Hub soon, but until then, some plumbing integration work is needed and that is what I describe in this post.

Custom Claude Code Commands

Not just Sitecore-specific, but this is very helpful optimizer in my day to day workflows, so I thought this may still be relevant. Describing a handy shortcut / time saver with custom slash commands for Claude Code, transforming repetitive tasks into reusable, one-word triggers. I explain how to define these commands as Markdown files that encapsulate complex instructions, file references, and parameter injections.

AI Code Generation — Promoting Storybook components into XM Cloud (BYOC)

This guide/post, based on my experience delivering Sitecore head implementation, connects the local development workflow to the Sitecore authoring experience by detailing how to "promote" isolated Storybook components into XM Cloud using the Bring Your Own Component (BYOC) framework. This is the 2nd part, describing how I convert Storybook components to XM Cloud components (the 1st part outlines building local-first components from the component matrix with coding agents)

The efficiency multi...

AI Code Generation — From prompt to XM Cloud component matrix

Describing the first step in my AI-driven delivery workflow/playbook: transforming a manual component inventory (from a spreadsheet or Figma) into structured, Sitecore-ready requirement documents. Instead of doing it manually, I use coding agents to analyze the component code ("find compost at a given URL, given HTMl tag and create detailed FE requirements" kind of task for the AI agent). The output of this process is a detailed compost spec with component names, descriptions, fields and sample ...

AI-Powered Stack — Fast POCs from prompt to XM Cloud components

My current methodology for using AI agents to build Sitecore XM Cloud Proofs of Concept (POCs) that serve as intentional stepping stones to production rather than disposable demos. I describe a workflow that moves from an AI-drafted project brief to a fully scaffolded Next.js and Storybook architecture, using coding agents to generate realistic components and data flows from day one.

By automating repetitive setup and code generation tasks, this approach allows architects to focus on validati...

AI‑Powered Stack — From Signed SOW to Sprint One

Describing my current AI-powered workflow for automating & completing all the steps between signed SOW and 1st dev Sprint. I outline a "Sprint Zero" process where with AI agents I transformed high-level SOW scope and architecture briefs into delivery artifacts, such as skeletons, epics and user stories & acceptance criteria, approximate dev effort estimates and team composition plans, CSV-ready backlogs for Kira or Azure DevOps.

Again, the speed multiplier with AI is hard to estimate, but it...

AI-Powered Stack — Sprint zero for XM Cloud with agentic AI

My current methodology for delivering Sitecore projects that leverages agentic AI to compress weeks of discovery and planning into days. I detail how I orchestrate AI agents to analyze legacy implementations, draft a robust Information Architecture, and generate a complete product backlog with preliminary estimates, allowing a single architect to establish the strategic foundation rapidly.

This describes how I build a "Walking Skeleton"—a functional Proof of Concept connecting Next.js to Expe...

Making Sense of Old Sitecore Codebases with AI

Exploring how AI-powered tools can help developers make sense of complex Sitecore codebases and streamline modernization efforts. Using AI-driven IDEs like Cursor and Windsurf, I demonstrated how semantic indexing of codebases enables developers to interact with their code more intuitively. These tools help with tasks like identifying functionalities, analyzing structures, and migrating legacy Sitecore solutions to modern frameworks, making it easier to maintain and update even the most complica...

Supercharging Sitecore XM Cloud with Next.js ISR: A Deep Dive into the Revalidate Plugin

I developed a custom revalidation plugin to enhance the integration between Sitecore XM Cloud and Next.js. This plugin enables content editors to trigger immediate regeneration of static pages upon content updates, ensuring that changes are promptly reflected on the live site. By implementing a PowerShell script within Sitecore that communicates with a secure Next.js API endpoint, we achieved efficient and timely page revalidation. We’re excited to announce that this plugin will soon be availabl...

Commerce Tools starter

Commerce Tools starter to be used with Sitecore XM head or elsewhere. Work in progress.

Azure AI website crawler for Sitecore XM head

Initial implementation of Azure AI website crawler, described in this post: https://www.xcentium.com/blogs/Enhancing-Sitecore-Powered-Websites-with-Azure-AI-Search-Part-1

This is the second part of a detailed account of an actual implementation integrating Azure AI Search into Sitecore XM Cloud Next.js projects. It covers resource creation, search service configuration, and AI enrichment while addressing the absence of a native web crawler by introducing a custom solution using Azure Functions. This approach offers precise control over crawl parameters and content extraction. The article includes step-by-step instructions for setting up the Azure Function App and scheduling crawls, demonstrating how these enhancements elevate search functionality in Sitecore-powered websites.

This is the second part of a detailed account of an actual implementation integrating Azure AI Search into Sitecore XM Cloud Next.js projects. It covers resource creation, search service configuration, and AI enrichment while addressing the absence of a native web crawler by introducing a custom solution using Azure Functions. This approach offers precise control over crawl parameters and content extraction. The article includes step-by-step instructions for setting up the Azure Function App and...

Automating Image Metadata in Sitecore Content Hub with GPT-4 Vision

Leveraging OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision model to automate the generation of image metadata within Sitecore Content Hub. By integrating AI, the approach aims to streamline asset management by automatically creating descriptive titles and detailed descriptions for images, thereby reducing the manual effort typically required in metadata management.

Migrating Content from Any Website to Sitecore Content Hub One

I migrated over a decade of technical blog content to Sitecore Content Hub One using an efficient and adaptable approach. Puppeteer and Cheerio were used to scrape and extract content, with Turndown converting HTML to Markdown. ChatGPT helped refine and standardize formatting, and Sitecore Content Hub One’s API was used to upload the content. This process can be easily adapted for migrating content to other CMS platforms, whether Sitecore or non-Sitecore, providing a flexible and efficient solut...

Time-saving tips for creating XM Cloud renderings, templates, and Next.JS Components

Sitecore XM Cloud renderings, templates, and FE components need to follow a certain inheritance structure, which takes time to re-create for each component we’re building. Here’s a time-saving workflow, a set of steps that might save some of that time by semi-automating this process.

Poor Man's Forms Builder for Sitecore XM Cloud with Next.JS Head

Sitecore Forms is an incredibly useful feature within the Sitecore Experience Platform. However, it is not yet available on Sitecore XM Cloud. Although Sitecore is actively working to bring this feature to XM Cloud, we found ourselves in need of a forms solution for an early client project on this platform. Here's the solution I devised.

Getting Started with Sitecore Search on Next.js stack

A walkthrough, step-by-step guide for configuring and getting Sitecore Search to work in your Next.js App

Migrating Sitecore Media Library to Content Hub. Part 1: Exporting Assets from Media Library

This is the 1st part of a 3-part series describing scripted content migration from Sitecore XM/XP’s Media Library to Sitecore Content Hub DAM. Having undertaken this task for several clients, I've found that despite unique requirements for each migration, a consistent and effective approach has always been key.

Collaborated with Sitecore on product feedback, demos, pre-sales

I communicated with a number of people at Sitecore to provide early feedback on Sitecore products, collaborate on numerous Sitecore implementations, and help Sitecore with demos and pre-sales activities. I was an early/beta user of Content Hub One, Sitecore Search, XM Cloud product, and XM Cloud exam beta tester.

I worked with Christa Marousek christa.marousek@sitecore.com, Ezgi Göçücü ezgi.gocucu@sitecore.com, Lei Sun lei.sun@sitecore.com, Julie Daunt julie.daunt@sitecore.com, Justin...

Re-Writing CMS Content with AI

Reusable recipe for mass-updating CMS content with OpenAI

Sitecore “Batch” Connector, part 1: Download Content from Content Hub

A 3-post series describing an alternative approach to sync a large number of records between Sitecore Content Hub and XM/XP

Led Content Hub implementation for Meritage

This is just one of my projects in 2023, but I thought it was worth mentioning since it won the Sitecore Experience award in 2023.

Exporting a Large Number of Entities from Sitecore Content Hub

How to export any number of entities from Sitecore Content Hub into Excel, overcoming the 2000-item selection limit imposed on OOTB export.

A script to delete all Entities of a given type in Sitecore Content Hub

Mass-deleting all entities matching given criteria in Content Hub (a useful clean script that come handy in mass migration scenarios)

Organizer of The Rocky Mountain Sitecore User Group (Denver)

I'm running The Rocky Mountain Sitecore User Group (Denver)