diff --git a/scm-ui-components/packages/ui-components/src/apiclient.js b/scm-ui-components/packages/ui-components/src/apiclient.js
index 77ebe8cf4e..551bb3e2eb 100644
--- a/scm-ui-components/packages/ui-components/src/apiclient.js
+++ b/scm-ui-components/packages/ui-components/src/apiclient.js
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ import type { BackendErrorContent } from "./errors";
 const fetchOptions: RequestOptions = {
   credentials: "same-origin",
   headers: {
-    Cache: "no-cache"
+    Cache: "no-cache",
+    // identify the request as ajax request
+    "X-Requested-With": "XMLHttpRequest"
   }
 };