Adobe Upgrade & Migration

Overview

Guide for the most critical Adobe migrations: JWT to OAuth Server-to-Server, PDF Services SDK v3 to v4, Photoshop API v1 to v2 endpoints, and general SDK version upgrades.

Prerequisites

• Current Adobe SDK installed
• Git for version control
• Test suite covering Adobe integration points
• Staging environment for validation

Instructions

Migration 1: JWT to OAuth Server-to-Server (CRITICAL)

Deadline passed: JWT (Service Account) credentials reached EOL June 2025. If you are still using JWT, migrate immediately.

// BEFORE (JWT — no longer works)
import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
const jwtToken = jwt.sign({
  exp: Math.round(Date.now() / 1000) + 60 * 60 * 24,
  iss: orgId,
  sub: technicalAccountId,
  aud: `https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/c/${clientId}`,
  'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/s/ent_firefly_sdk': true,
}, privateKey, { algorithm: 'RS256' });

// AFTER (OAuth Server-to-Server — current standard)
const tokenResponse = await fetch('https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' },
  body: new URLSearchParams({
    client_id: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
    client_secret: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    grant_type: 'client_credentials',
    scope: process.env.ADOBE_SCOPES!,
  }),
});

Migration steps:

1. In Developer Console, open your project
2. Click Add credential > OAuth Server-to-Server
3. Assign same product profiles as your JWT credential
4. Update application code to use client_credentials grant
5. Remove jsonwebtoken dependency and private key files
6. Test in staging
7. Deploy to production
8. Delete the old JWT credential in Developer Console

Migration 2: PDF Services SDK v3 to v4

# Check current version
npm list @adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk

# Upgrade
npm install @adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk@latest

Key breaking changes v3 -> v4:

// BEFORE (v3)
import PDFServicesSdk from '@adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk';
const credentials = PDFServicesSdk.Credentials
  .serviceAccountCredentialsBuilder()
  .fromFile('pdfservices-api-credentials.json')
  .build();
const executionContext = PDFServicesSdk.ExecutionContext.create(credentials);
const extractPDFOperation = PDFServicesSdk.ExtractPDF.Operation.createNew();

// AFTER (v4)
import {
  ServicePrincipalCredentials,
  PDFServices,
  ExtractPDFJob,
  ExtractPDFParams,
  ExtractElementType,
} from '@adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk';
const credentials = new ServicePrincipalCredentials({
  clientId: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
  clientSecret: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
});
const pdfServices = new PDFServices({ credentials });
// Job-based API: submit job, poll for result
const job = new ExtractPDFJob({ inputAsset, params });
const pollingURL = await pdfServices.submit({ job });

Migration 3: Photoshop Remove Background v1 to v2

// BEFORE (v1 — deprecated)
const response = await fetch('https://image.adobe.io/sensei/cutout', {
  method: 'POST',
  // ...
});

// AFTER (v2 — current)
const response = await fetch('https://image.adobe.io/v2/remove-background', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`,
    'x-api-key': process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    input: { href: inputUrl, storage: 'external' },
    output: { href: outputUrl, storage: 'external', type: 'image/png' },
  }),
});

Step 4: General SDK Upgrade Process

# 1. Create upgrade branch
git checkout -b upgrade/adobe-sdk

# 2. Check for outdated packages
npm outdated | grep @adobe

# 3. Upgrade all Adobe packages
npm install @adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk@latest \
  @adobe/firefly-apis@latest \
  @adobe/photoshop-apis@latest \
  @adobe/lightroom-apis@latest

# 4. Run tests
npm test

# 5. Fix any breaking changes (check changelogs)
# Firefly:
# PDF Services:

# 6. Commit and test in staging
git add package.json package-lock.json
git commit -m "chore: upgrade Adobe SDKs to latest"

Output

• Migrated from JWT to OAuth Server-to-Server
• Upgraded PDF Services SDK to v4 job-based API
• Updated Photoshop endpoints to v2
• All tests passing with new SDK versions

Error Handling

Error After Upgrade	Cause	Solution
invalid_client	Still using JWT credentials	Complete OAuth migration
ExecutionContext is not a constructor	v3 API in v4 SDK	Use new Job-based API
404 /sensei/cutout	Old Photoshop endpoint	Update to /v2/remove-background
Cannot find module	Import paths changed	Check SDK changelog for new imports

Examples

Start with the smallest applicable command or code example already provided in this guide, using a non-production Adobe environment and credentials. Confirm the documented response or validation result before applying the pattern to production.

Resources

• JWT to OAuth Migration Guide
• PDF Services Release Notes
• Firefly API Changelog
• Photoshop API Migration

Next Steps

For CI integration during upgrades, see adobe-ci-integration.