EP07 // AEM Complete Tutorial Series 2026
Sling Resource Resolution —
How a URL Becomes a Script
Resource types · Super types · Selectors · Search paths
/apps beats /libsmost specific winsthe script-name ladder
aeminsider.com · @aeminsider · Not affiliated with Adobe Inc.
// Chapter 01 · Six episodes of "it just worked"
We typed a URL. AEM sent back HTML.
EP04
We made a folder called card, put card.html inside it, and a Card appeared on the page. Nobody told AEM where that file was.
EP05
We made a node called cq:dialog in the same folder. We clicked Configure and it opened. We never connected the two.
EP06
Our page component had no page.html at all. Two small files — and every page still rendered a full HTML document.
Three things. One engine behind all of them — resource resolution, from Apache Sling.
// Chapter 02 · It's two questions, not one
Resolution happens in two steps.
STEP 1
URL → Resource
Sling takes the path and finds a node in the repository. That node is the resource.
one ruleSTEP 2
Resource → Script
Now a different question: which file renders this node? Resource types, super types, selectors, search paths.
several rules — this is where people get stuckMix these two up and nothing makes sense. Keep them apart and it all does.
// Chapter 03 · Step one — the path finds the resource
A sample AEM URL, part by part.
/content/aeminsider/us/en/first-component.summary.html/abc?debug=true
path
/content/aeminsider/us/en/first-component
used to find the resource
selector
.summary
identifies what script we need to runcan have more than one — .summary.print
extension
.html
specifies the output format, or rendering type
suffix
/abc
extra information passed to the script, after the resource is resolved
query string
?debug=true
optional parameters, available through the request object
Path finds the resource. Selectors and extension decide what runs. Suffix and query string are used by the script.
// Chapter 04 · Step two — which file Sling looks for
Five names, tried in order.
request: card.summary.html · resource type: aeminsider/components/card
best matchfirst one that exists wins
1Selector+Extension.html→summary.html.html
2Selector.html→summary.html
3html.html→html.html
4nodename.html the component folder, not the page node→card.html
5GET.html→GET.html
worst matchmost specific wins
card.html is fourth. The file you've written since EP04 only wins because nothing above it exists.
// Chapter 05 · Super types
No file here? Ask the parent.
aeminsider/components/teaser-wide
↓sling:resourceSuperType
aeminsider/components/teaser
no script of its own · no dialog of its own · still renders
our page component goes three levels deep — coming up
resourceType = what I am. resourceSuperType = what I extend. Sling walks up until it finds the file — script, dialog or include.
// Chapter 06 · The search paths
The resource type is relative. To this.
sling:resourceType = aeminsider/components/card
/apps/apps/aeminsider/components/card
Your project. Checked first.
Your project. Checked first.
/libs/libs/aeminsider/components/card
Adobe's tree. Looked at second — never put your code here.
Adobe's tree. Looked at second — never put your code here.
resource.resolver.searchpath = [/apps, /libs]
Putting your own file at the same path under /apps so it beats Adobe's is called an overlay. Resolved per file, not per component.
// Chapter 07 · Our page component, up close
Two files. And no page.html.
/apps/aeminsider/components/page
.content.xml sling:resourceSuperType = core/wcm/components/page/v3/page customheaderlibs.html injected into <head> customfooterlibs.html injected before </body> // that's the whole component. There is no page.html.
So where does the page come from? The super type. page.html lives in the parent — and it includes head.html and body.html from beside it.
aeminsider/components/page→core/wcm/components/page/v3→wcm/foundation/…/basicpage/v1
Those two files are hooks. The parent includes them at two exact spots — which is where clientlibs will plug in.
// Chapter 08 · The whole engine
Every request, every time.
1Take the path and find a node.
2Read the resource type off it.
3Look under /apps first, then /libs.
4Match the most specific file name — selector, extension, node name, method.
5Nothing there? Follow the super type and repeat in the parent.
6Keep walking up until you run out of parents.
Most specific wins · /apps beats /libs · children beat parents
// Next on AEM Insider
Next: Clientlibs
How CSS and JavaScript actually reach an AEM page. Categories, dependencies, embedding — and why the URL has that long hash in it.
EP08 · customheaderlibs.html is where it plugs in