Upgrade 16.7 to 16.8

Goal

Upgrade a Bloomreach Experience Manager implementation project from version 16.7.x to 16.8.y.

Significant Changes

This minor release introduces a number of new features, technical stack upgrades, and product improvements. The most significant updates for developers and users moving from 16.7 to 16.8 include:

• Search Agent:  Conversational natural language search across the full content repository, built into the AI Content Assistant. Requires a vector store connection. See the AI Content Assistant initialization and configuration guide for more information.

• AI Extensibility- VectorStoreFactory(Incubating): New SPI to connect a custom or self-managed vector store to the Search Agent. Implement and register as a Spring `@Component`. Refer to the AI Module Extensibility Guide for more information.

• AI Extensibility - ClientToolPackage: New SPI to register custom AI-callable tools in the chat assistant. Tools have access to current user and document context at runtime. Refer to the AI Module Extensibility Guide for more information.

• Revision Restoration Control: Date threshold to block restoration of pre-migration revisions. Disabled by default; configure via JCR property or system variable. For configuration details, please refer to the document: Configure a Revision Compatibility Date on Document Types.

• LiteLLM Configuration Update: LiteLLM was configured through the generic OpenAI-compatible connector, which made it impossible to have a separate configuration for OpenAI and LiteLLM (see Multiplicity of configurations). LiteLLM now has a dedicated connector under the `spring.ai.litellm.*` property namespace. The migration is optional but recommended if you currently use LiteLLM. 

See the 16.8.0 release notes for a full list.

Upgrade Steps

Perform Generic Minor Upgrade Steps

Follow the generic instructions for minor upgrades.

Check Custom Project Code for Incompatibilities With Upgraded Libraries

Because of third party library upgrades that may introduce backward compatibility issues, there's a chance that project code doesn't build or run well any more. In that case, look into the specifics and adjust the project code to use the latest library correctly.

OpenAI completions path property renamed 

In v16.8.0, there's a change in a configuration property for the OpenAI provider.

If you have configured a custom completions path for the OpenAI provider (e.g. when using Azure OpenAI or a compatible endpoint), the property name has changed. Update this property in your JCR configuration before upgrading.

Refer to upgrade instructions for AI Module for more informantion.

Detailed Release Notes

See also the detailed release notes for more information.