Publishing Workflow & Revision System

Publishing Workflow

Content Status Lifecycle

Draft → Pending Review → Published
   ↑          │
   └──────────┘ (Reject)

Status Definitions

Note: Rejection returns content to draft with a rejection_reason.

Workflow Actions

Submit for Review

• Available when: Status is draft
• Permission: SubmitForReview:CmsPost / SubmitForReview:CmsPage
• Effect: Changes to pending, notifies approvers

Approve & Publish

• Available when: Status is pending
• Permission: Approve:CmsPost / Approve:CmsPage
• Effect: Changes to published, notifies author

Reject

• Available when: Status is pending
• Permission: Approve:CmsPost / Approve:CmsPage
• Effect: Returns to draft with rejection reason

Scheduled Publishing

// Check if scheduled
$post->isScheduled(); // true if published AND published_at > now()

// Scopes
CmsPost::scheduled()->get();  // Approved but future
CmsPost::published()->get();  // Currently visible

Database Fields

Revision History

How Revisions Work

Two revisions are created on every save:

1. Pre-update: State BEFORE the change
2. Post-update: State AFTER the change

Uses SHA-256 content hashing to detect changes.

Manual Snapshots (Pinned)

Create milestones via "Save Snapshot" action:

• Saves current form changes
• Creates pinned milestone
• Optional notes
• Displayed with "Pinned" badge

Revision Timeline

● Revision #5              [Current]
  2 minutes ago by John Doe

● Revision #4              [Pinned]
  1 hour ago by Jane Smith
  — Ready for review
  [vs Current] [vs Prev] [Restore]

● Revision #3
  3 hours ago by John Doe
  [vs Current] [vs Prev] [Restore]

Comparing Revisions

• Side-by-side diff for text fields
• Visual content comparison for blocks
• Older in red, newer in green
• Restore button available

Restoring Revisions

When restoring:

1. Content fields are restored
2. Status is NOT changed
3. New revision captures restored state
4. Redirects to edit page

Tracked Fields

• title
• excerpt
• content
• meta_title
• meta_description
• featured_image

Revision Pruning

Preview System

Live Preview

• Opens content in new tab with theme layout
• Works for all statuses
• Reflects current form state after save

Shareable Preview Links

1. Click "Share Preview Link"
2. Select expiry (1 hour, 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days)
3. Copy generated link
4. Anyone with link can view without login

Token Features

• Cryptographically secure
• Configurable expiration
• Can be revoked anytime
• Multiple tokens per content item

Revoking Links

Click "Revoke All Preview Links" to invalidate all active tokens.

Permissions

Shield Integration

Post Permissions

Page Permissions

Same pattern with CmsPage suffix.

Suggested Roles

Configuration

Environment Variables

CMS_REVISION_LIMIT=100
CMS_REVISION_MANUAL_LIMIT=50
CMS_NOTIFICATION_CHANNELS=mail,database

Config File

'publishing' => [
    'revision_limit' => env('CMS_REVISION_LIMIT', 100),
    'revision_manual_limit' => env('CMS_REVISION_MANUAL_LIMIT', 50),
    'notification_channels' => ['mail', 'database'],
    'default_preview_expiry_hours' => 24,
],

Usage Examples

Programmatic Workflow

use App\Services\PublishingWorkflowService;

$workflow = app(PublishingWorkflowService::class);

$workflow->submitForReview($post);
$workflow->approve($post);
$workflow->reject($post, 'Please add more details.');

Manual Snapshots

$post->createManualSnapshot('Ready for client review');

Working with Revisions

$revisions = $post->revisions;
$latest = $post->getLatestRevision();
$revision = $post->getRevision(5);
$post->restoreRevision($revision);

// Filtered queries
$pinned = $post->revisions()->manual()->get();
$auto = $post->revisions()->automatic()->get();

Preview Tokens

use Carbon\Carbon;

$token = $post->createPreviewToken(Carbon::now()->addHours(24));
$url = $token->getPreviewUrl();

if ($post->hasActivePreviewTokens()) {
    $count = $post->getActivePreviewTokenCount();
}

$post->revokeAllPreviewTokens();

Next Steps

• Page settings
• Managing content
• Architecture