Unveiling the Layers: Delving into the Sitecore Tech Stack: The Hidden Cost of Scoped Context IDs in Sitecore XMC

When working with Sitecore XM Cloud (SitecoreAI), Next.js, and the Sitecore Content SDK, scoped Context IDs are strongly recommended — especially for values exposed to the browser.

I followed the official Sitecore documentation, created a scoped Context ID, wired it into my Next.js app… and still ended up with a runtime error that wasn’t obvious at all.

This post documents what went wrong, why the error message is misleading, and what you actually need to scope correctly.

The Setup

Next.js application
Sitecore XM Cloud
Sitecore Content SDK
Environment variables

To follow best practices, I created a scoped Context ID in the Sitecore Cloud Portal, intended primarily for the NEXT_PUBLIC_ variable, since it’s exposed to the browser.

The Runtime Error

At runtime, the application failed with the following error:

Error [IE-0003]
Unable to set the sc_{SitecoreEdgeContextId} cookie because the browser ID could not be retrieved from the server.
Make sure to set the correct values for sitecoreEdgeContextId and siteName.

At first glance, this suggests:

A wrong Context ID
A misconfigured site name
Or a temporary Edge issue

But none of those were actually the problem.

The Real Root Cause

The scoped Context ID was created with insufficient or incorrect resource selection.

In other words:

✔ Content queries were allowed
❌ Browser identity / Edge delivery capabilities were not

This is easy to miss because:

The Cloud Portal UI makes it easy to “almost” configure the right scope
The docs don’t clearly explain which scopes are required for client-side SDK behavior
Server-side rendering may continue to work, hiding the issue

Why This Only Happens in the Browser

In a Next.js app:

Server-side execution
uses SITECORE_EDGE_CONTEXT_ID
Client-side execution
uses NEXT_PUBLIC_SITECORE_EDGE_CONTEXT_ID

Only the browser needs:

Cookies
Browser IDs
Edge identity calls

So a Context ID that works perfectly on the server can still fail on the client.

So, what you need to do is to go to admin section in SitecoreAI and look for the Context Ids menu item under the ID management section as you can see below:

Then, once you're there, make sure to select the right Context ID for the target environment, and then adjust the resources for the target scoped context Id, below is what I selected for my scoped context Id:

Lessons Learned / Best Practices

Scoped Context IDs are not just API keys
They directly affect runtime behavior in the browser.
Always validate scopes against client-side needs
Not just content fetching.
Test client-side rendering early
Don’t rely on SSR success alone.
If in doubt, start with broader read-only scopes
Then reduce — not the other way around.

Final Thoughts

Scoped Context IDs are a great security feature, but they come with responsibility. Choosing the wrong resources won’t fail loudly — it will fail confusingly.

If you’re using Sitecore XMC with Next.js and the Content SDK, make sure your scoped Context IDs support both content delivery and browser identity, or you may end up debugging an error that looks unrelated to scopes at all.

References: