diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/graph/action/GraphExploreResponse.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/graph/action/GraphExploreResponse.java
index 2869871a67d..7dc630da404 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/graph/action/GraphExploreResponse.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/graph/action/GraphExploreResponse.java
@@ -6,14 +6,13 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.graph.action;
 
 import com.carrotsearch.hppc.ObjectIntHashMap;
-
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ShardOperationFailedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.ShardSearchFailure;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.graph.action.Connection.ConnectionId;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.graph.action.Vertex.VertexId;
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.action.search.ShardSearchFailure.readShardSearch
  * 
  * @see GraphExploreRequest
  */
-public class GraphExploreResponse extends ActionResponse implements ToXContent {
+public class GraphExploreResponse extends ActionResponse implements ToXContentObject {
 
     private long tookInMillis;
     private boolean timedOut = false;
@@ -159,6 +158,7 @@ public class GraphExploreResponse extends ActionResponse implements ToXContent {
 
     @Override
     public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
+        builder.startObject();
         builder.field(Fields.TOOK, tookInMillis);
         builder.field(Fields.TIMED_OUT, timedOut);
 
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ public class GraphExploreResponse extends ActionResponse implements ToXContent {
             builder.endObject();
         }
         builder.endArray();
-
+        builder.endObject();
         return builder;
     }
 
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/search/ExecutableSearchInput.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/search/ExecutableSearchInput.java
index 55e01d5fd85..4adcfec196a 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/search/ExecutableSearchInput.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/search/ExecutableSearchInput.java
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.script.Script;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHit;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.execution.WatchExecutionContext;
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.watch.Payload;
 
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.input.search.SearchInput.TYPE;
 
 /**
@@ -80,9 +79,9 @@ public class ExecutableSearchInput extends ExecutableInput<SearchInput, SearchIn
 
         final Payload payload;
         if (input.getExtractKeys() != null) {
-            XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder().startObject().value(response).endObject();
+            BytesReference bytes = XContentHelper.toXContent(response, XContentType.JSON);
             // EMPTY is safe here because we never use namedObject
-            XContentParser parser = XContentHelper.createParser(NamedXContentRegistry.EMPTY, builder.bytes());
+            XContentParser parser = XContentHelper.createParser(NamedXContentRegistry.EMPTY, bytes);
             Map<String, Object> filteredKeys = XContentFilterKeysUtils.filterMapOrdered(input.getExtractKeys(), parser);
             payload = new Payload.Simple(filteredKeys);
         } else {
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtils.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtils.java
index cbc790d0988..8747a254ed7 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtils.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtils.java
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.support;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.joda.time.DateTime;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -16,18 +16,15 @@ import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.support.WatcherDateTimeUtils.formatDate;
 
 public final class WatcherUtils {
 
-
     private WatcherUtils() {
     }
 
-    public static Map<String, Object> responseToData(ToXContent response) throws IOException {
-        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder().startObject().value(response).endObject();
-        return XContentHelper.convertToMap(builder.bytes(), false).v2();
+    public static Map<String, Object> responseToData(ToXContentObject response) throws IOException {
+        return XContentHelper.convertToMap(XContentHelper.toXContent(response, XContentType.JSON), false).v2();
     }
 
     public static Map<String, Object> flattenModel(Map<String, Object> map) {
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Payload.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Payload.java
index 9e97016d7b7..e4935c8e8c1 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Payload.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Payload.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.watch;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.MapBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -73,10 +74,8 @@ public interface Payload extends ToXContent {
     }
 
     class XContent extends Simple {
-
-        public XContent(ToXContent response) throws IOException {
+        public XContent(ToXContentObject response) throws IOException {
             super(responseToData(response));
         }
-
     }
 }
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtilsTests.java b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtilsTests.java
index e861a4fa5dc..b7ab542f5a0 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtilsTests.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/support/WatcherUtilsTests.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
@@ -22,7 +23,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.support.search.WatcherSearchTemplateRequest;
 import org.joda.time.DateTime;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.time.Clock;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -72,15 +72,14 @@ public class WatcherUtilsTests extends ESTestCase {
         Map<String, Object> otherMap = new HashMap<>();
         otherMap.putAll(expected);
         expected.put("key5", otherMap);
-        ToXContent content = new ToXContent() {
-            @Override
-            public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
-                for (Map.Entry<String, ?> entry : expected.entrySet()) {
-                    builder.field(entry.getKey());
-                    builder.value(entry.getValue());
-                }
-                return builder;
+        ToXContentObject content = (builder, params) -> {
+            builder.startObject();
+            for (Map.Entry<String, ?> entry : expected.entrySet()) {
+                builder.field(entry.getKey());
+                builder.value(entry.getValue());
             }
+            builder.endObject();
+            return builder;
         };
         Map<String, Object> result = WatcherUtils.responseToData(content);
         assertThat(result, equalTo(expected));