diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/models/data_recognizer/data_recognizer.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/models/data_recognizer/data_recognizer.js
index 7d1362ce3c38..df343f88d278 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/models/data_recognizer/data_recognizer.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/models/data_recognizer/data_recognizer.js
@@ -267,15 +267,12 @@ export class DataRecognizer {
 
     // load the config from disk
     const moduleConfig = await this.getModule(moduleId, jobPrefix);
-    const manifestFile = await this.getManifestFile(moduleId);
 
-    if (indexPatternName === undefined &&
-      manifestFile && manifestFile.json &&
-      manifestFile.json.defaultIndexPattern === undefined) {
+    if (indexPatternName === undefined && moduleConfig.defaultIndexPattern === undefined) {
 
       throw Boom.badRequest(`No index pattern configured in "${moduleId}" configuration file and no index pattern passed to the endpoint`);
     }
-    this.indexPatternName = (indexPatternName === undefined) ? manifestFile.json.defaultIndexPattern : indexPatternName;
+    this.indexPatternName = (indexPatternName === undefined) ? moduleConfig.defaultIndexPattern : indexPatternName;
     this.indexPatternId = this.getIndexPatternId(this.indexPatternName);
 
     // create an empty results object
@@ -573,6 +570,12 @@ export class DataRecognizer {
   // listing each job/datafeed/savedObject with a save success boolean
   createResultsTemplate(moduleConfig) {
     const results = {};
+    const reducedConfig = {
+      jobs: moduleConfig.jobs,
+      datafeeds: moduleConfig.datafeeds,
+      kibana: moduleConfig.kibana,
+    };
+
     function createResultsItems(configItems, resultItems, index) {
       resultItems[index] = [];
       configItems.forEach((j) => {
@@ -583,13 +586,13 @@ export class DataRecognizer {
       });
     }
 
-    Object.keys(moduleConfig).forEach((i) => {
-      if (Array.isArray(moduleConfig[i])) {
-        createResultsItems(moduleConfig[i], results, i);
+    Object.keys(reducedConfig).forEach((i) => {
+      if (Array.isArray(reducedConfig[i])) {
+        createResultsItems(reducedConfig[i], results, i);
       } else {
         results[i] = {};
-        Object.keys(moduleConfig[i]).forEach((k) => {
-          createResultsItems(moduleConfig[i][k], results[i], k);
+        Object.keys(reducedConfig[i]).forEach((k) => {
+          createResultsItems(reducedConfig[i][k], results[i], k);
         });
       }
     });
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/routes/modules.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/routes/modules.js
index 67d7ceff22d7..fdde363480b0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/routes/modules.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/server/routes/modules.js
@@ -73,7 +73,12 @@ export function dataRecognizer(server, commonRouteConfig) {
     path: '/api/ml/modules/get_module/{moduleId?}',
     handler(request) {
       const callWithRequest = callWithRequestFactory(server, request);
-      const moduleId = request.params.moduleId;
+      let moduleId = request.params.moduleId;
+      if (moduleId === '') {
+        // if the endpoint is called with a trailing /
+        // the moduleId will be an empty string.
+        moduleId = undefined;
+      }
       return getModule(callWithRequest, moduleId)
         .catch(resp => wrapError(resp));
     },