Define a node type and register it, then modify it by adding a property definition: NodeTypeManager ntmgr = session.getWorkspace().getNodeTypeManager(); NodeType nodeType = ntmgr.getNodeType( "dmsmix:filecontent" ); NodeTypeTemplate nodeTypeTemplate = ntmgr.createNodeTypeTemplate(nodeType); PropertyDefinitionTemplate tp = ntmgr.createPropertyDefinitionTemplate(); tp.setName( "dmsmix:owner" ); // set other type and other properties ... nodeTypeTemplate.getPropertyDefinitionTemplates().add(tp); ntmgr.registerNodeType(nodeTypeTemplate, true ); Then later create a template of the registered node type, iterate over the existing property definitions, and remove one of them: NodeTypeManager ntmgr = session.getWorkspace().getNodeTypeManager(); NodeType nodeType = ntmgr.getNodeType( "dmsmix:filecontent" ); NodeTypeTemplate nodeTypeTemplate = ntmgr.createNodeTypeTemplate(nodeType); List<PropertyDefinitionTemplate> pts = nodeTypeTemplate.getPropertyDefinitionTemplates(); Iterator<PropertyDefinitionTemplate> pit = pts.iterator(); while (pit.hasNext()) { PropertyDefinitionTemplate pi = pit.next(); if (pi.getName().equals( "dmsmix:owner" )) { pit.remove(); } } ntmgr.registerNodeType(nodeTypeTemplate, true ); Registering the modified template (last line in the previous code fragment) results in an exception: org.modeshape.jcr.cache.NodeNotFoundInParentException: Cannot locate child node: 7d98ad9317f1e7/jcr:system/jcr:nodeTypes/{http???www.mycompany.com?dms?mix?1.0}filecontent/{http???www.mycompany.com?dms?mix?1.0}removeMe/ String /1 within parent: 7d98ad9317f1e7/jcr:system/jcr:nodeTypes/{http???www.mycompany.com?dms?mix?1.0}filecontent at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.document.SessionNode.getSegment(SessionNode.java:417) at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.document.SessionNode.getPath(SessionNode.java:449) at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.PathCache.getPath(PathCache.java:49) at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.document.WritableSessionCache.persistChanges(WritableSessionCache.java:852) at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.document.WritableSessionCache.save(WritableSessionCache.java:382) at org.modeshape.jcr.cache.document.WritableSessionCache.save(WritableSessionCache.java:347) at org.modeshape.jcr.SystemContent.save(SystemContent.java:112) at org.modeshape.jcr.RepositoryNodeTypeManager.registerNodeTypes(RepositoryNodeTypeManager.java:523) at org.modeshape.jcr.RepositoryNodeTypeManager.registerNodeType(RepositoryNodeTypeManager.java:377) at org.modeshape.jcr.JcrNodeTypeManager.registerNodeType(JcrNodeTypeManager.java:489)