How to reliably Get the "Last Published" timestamp of a page

Hi @matthewda19,

I think, the only reliable way is to use the cq:lastReplicated property from the cq:Page node (not the jcr:content node). It updates only on successful publish and remains untouched by mere edits or autosaves. Works well for showing "last updated" timestamps to end users.

This works because:

• Most devs assume jcr:lastModified or cq:lastModified gives the latest update.

• Few realize cq:lastReplicated exists on the page node, not jcr:content.

• The question seems simple, but the nuance makes it expert-level.

Hope that helps!

you can say page.lastModified Misleads

The page.lastModified API in AEM Core WCM Components (and Page.getLastModified() in Sling) often affected by:

• Touch UI autosaves
• Non-replicated changes
• Live copies syncing (in some setups)
  
  

cq:lastReplicated is the best choice for displaying the last replicated timestamp; it shows you the timestamp of the last successful replication action on the node it exists on. Making sure you have fallback code in place of course.

I had a scenario back in the past where we had blog articles which we wish to display the "authored date". For these dates, we decided to add in a new page property called author date, so there are no side effects while authoring pages with the right date.

To reliably get the actual "last published" timestamp of a page in AEM, use:

 cq:lastReplicated

• Path: /content/your-page/jcr:content/cq:lastReplicated

• Type: Date

• Set on: Successful publish

• Reliable: Yes — updated only on successful replication

Avoid jcr:lastModified and cq:lastReplicationAction as they can be misleading.

Hi @matthewda19 ,

Use cq:lastReplicated

Property: cq:lastReplicated

  - Type: Date

  - Location: On the page node itself, e.g., /content/mysite/page

  - Not on: /content/mysite/page/jcr:content

This property is updated only when the page is successfully published to the publish instance, and it remains untouched by any author-side changes or autosaves.

Regards,
Amit