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AlokKumar
AlokKumar
Gold ⭐️
September 18, 2026
Question

View Data Provenance rows' content is empty

Hello when I try to View Data Provenance of a processor then it shows multiple rows but then when I try to view its content then I get 
"Content is no longer available in the content repository"
though the size in KB of the input and output claims are there. Also surprisingly the new entries content I can see but the same thing does not show the next day.

2 replies

vafs
Gold ⭐️⭐️⭐️
vafs
Gold ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 18, 2026

Hello @AlokKumar, 

Can you share the CDP and CFM versions? 
This sounds familiar to a known issue but I will need to check more based on that.

Also, can you provide a screenshot of what you see? 

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MattWho
Titanium ⭐️⭐️⭐️
MattWho
Titanium ⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 14, 2026

​@AlokKumar 

Apache NiFi Provenance repository does not contain any FlowFile’s content. Provenance metadata/attributes about the FlowFile and a FlowFile’s lineage. How long provenance data is retained is controlled by the provenance settings in the nifi.properties file. One piece of that provenance metadata for a FlowFile is where to find the FlowFile’s content within a claim in the NiFi Content Repository (The content repository has its own configurable retention settings).  When looking at provenance data for a FlowFile you will only be able to view the content if it still exists in the Content Repository.  

Understanding the lifecycle of a NiFi FlowFile will help understand better. A NiFi FlowFile consists of two parts:

  1. FlowFile Metadata/Attributes - This includes any NiFi component added attributes and some core service level attributes like filename, filesize, content claim id, byte offset, in claim, etc.  This is stored in the FlowFile repository and is purged once the FlowFile is no longer active (meaning it has reached a point of auto-termination in your dataflow.  Provenance repository will retain this data beyond auto-termination based on its retention settings.
  2. FlowFile Content - Stored in the Content Repository in the form of content claims. A content claim is immutable and can contain the content for 1 too many FlowFiles.  For every Flowfile that lays claim to some byte sequence within a single claim, the claimant count on the content claim is incremented.  Once a FlowFile tied to a content claim reaches point of termination the claimant count is decremented.  Once the claimant count on a content claim reaches 0, that claim is moved to an archive sub-directory in the content repository.  The Content repository settings in the nifi.properties controls at what point an archived content claim is purged to free disk space.  Note: A single small in size FlowFile left queued in some connection can prevent a large content claim from being archived since its claimant count will not be 0 yet.  

Based on above shared info, this matches with your shared experience.  Newer FlowFiles still being processed through a dataflow or viewed before their content claim has been purged have their content viewed.  So depending on how important it is to view the content long term, you’ll need to look over your Provenance Repository and Content Repository retention settings.  Keeping content can consume considerable disk space depending on your volumes and sizes.

Hope this helps you,
Matt

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