Custom Components: Extending Akeneo to Match How Your Business Works

Every team starts with good intentions. 

You configure your Product Information Management (PIM) system, set up workflows, assign roles, and everything runs smoothly. But as your business grows, things change. New roles appear. Processes evolve. And suddenly, the standard interface no longer reflects how people actually work.

That’s the moment Custom Components were built for.

Launched as part of Akeneo’s Winter Release, Custom Components give customers and partners a powerful new way to extend the Akeneo PIM interface without breaking governance, compromising security, or waiting for core product changes. They let you shape the PIM around real workflows, real roles, and real business needs.

What are Custom Components?

Custom Components are the most powerful extension type within Akeneo’s Extension Framework. They are self-contained JavaScript applications built using the Akeneo Extension SDK and run securely inside the PIM.

Unlike traditional customizations or external tools, Custom Components:

• Live directly inside Akeneo
• Feel completely native to users
• Have authenticated access to PIM APIs
• Doesn’t separate front-end management

This means teams can build rich, interactive experiences, such as dashboards, data visualizations, guided workflows, or integrations with other systems, without pulling users out of the PIM or creating fragile workarounds.

Why Custom Components are important

Most teams eventually outgrow standard configuration.

At first, configuration works well. But over time, cracks appear. The UI no longer matches daily workflows. Different roles need different views. Teams need visibility into data from other systems, but switching tools slows everything down.

When every request turns into “Can this go on the roadmap?” or “Can we hack around this?”, productivity suffers.

Custom Components allow teams to extend the Akeneo UI where it matters most, without touching the core product or creating technical debt. The result is a more flexible platform that adapts to your business, not the other way around.

Built for real workflows, not one-size-fits-all

No two teams work the same way. And your product platform shouldn’t force them to.

Custom Components allow companies to build purpose-driven interfaces directly inside Akeneo. You can embed external data, apply industry-specific logic, and surface the right information at the right time, all within the PIM context.

This enables:

• Role-based experiences for product, sales, and operations teams
• Industry-specific workflows without breaking governance
• Interfaces that reflect how work actually gets done

Bringing external data into the PIM securely

Modern product workflows rarely live in a single system.

With Custom Components, teams can integrate data from external systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, or other business tools via APIs, and bring that data directly into the PIM experience.

This allows teams to:

• View external data in context
• Reduce tool switching
• Make faster, better-informed decisions,

all while maintaining secure access and consistent permissions.

What can you build with Custom Components?

Custom Components unlock a wide range of high-value use cases, including:

• Dashboards that surface KPIs and product health metrics
• Guided workflows that help users complete tasks faster and more accurately
• Specialized interfaces for specific roles or business units
• Integrated views that blend PIM data with external systems

These are the types of capabilities customers consistently ask for and now they can be delivered faster, with less risk, and without compromising the Akeneo user experience.

A More Flexible Future for Product Operations

Custom Components deepen Akeneo’s role as the central hub for connected product experiences.

They give customers and partners the freedom to build tailored UI experiences that match how their business actually operates, without sacrificing security, governance, or usability.

By reducing tool switching, supporting role-based workflows, and enabling richer integrations, Custom Components help teams move faster, work smarter, and get more value from Akeneo as the foundation of their product operations.