diff --git a/src/writer/app_runner.py b/src/writer/app_runner.py
index e7e7b0e3e..1355474fe 100644
--- a/src/writer/app_runner.py
+++ b/src/writer/app_runner.py
@@ -19,7 +19,13 @@
 from watchdog.observers.polling import PollingObserver
 
 from writer import VERSION, audit_and_fix, core_ui, wf_project
-from writer.core import Config, EventHandlerRegistry, MiddlewareRegistry, WriterSession, use_request_context
+from writer.core import (
+    Config,
+    EventHandlerRegistry,
+    MiddlewareRegistry,
+    WriterSession,
+    use_request_context,
+)
 from writer.core_ui import ingest_bmc_component_tree
 from writer.ss_types import (
     AppProcessServerRequest,
diff --git a/src/writer/core_ui.py b/src/writer/core_ui.py
index 9997b4000..ca413c2d1 100644
--- a/src/writer/core_ui.py
+++ b/src/writer/core_ui.py
@@ -448,7 +448,17 @@ def export_component_tree(component_tree: ComponentTree, mode: ServeMode, only_u
     if only_update is True and component_tree.updated is False:
         return None
 
-    return component_tree.to_dict()
+    roots = ['root']
+    if mode == "edit":
+        roots.append('workflows_root')
+
+    _components: List[Component] = []
+    for root in roots:
+        _root_component = cast(Component, component_tree.get_component(root))
+        _components.append(_root_component)
+        _components += component_tree.get_descendents(root)
+
+    return {c.id: c.to_dict() for c in _components}
 
 class UIError(Exception):
     ...