Schedule Future Content with Directus Automate

Explanation

This guide explains how to schedule content to be published on a future date for a statically generated site (SSG).

We'll be using Flows to publish articles when the current date matches the published date.

First we'll schedule a flow to run at regular intervals.

Next we'll check the timestamps of items with our content collection. And we'll update those the status of those items whenever the published date is less than or equal the current timestamp.

Last, we'll kick off a new deployment of your static site at your hosting provider using one of the recipes below.

How-To Guide

You’ll need to have already created a collection for your site content like articles or posts or pages with a field status that controls the published state.

Add a Field to Control Publish Date and Time

Under Settings, go to Data Model.
Choose your content Collection.
Add a new field to your content Collection.

a. Choose Timestamp for the Type.
b. For the Key, use something relevant like date_published.
c. Save the Field and your Collection.

Add Some Content and Set a Publish Date

Create or update an Item inside your Collection

a. Set the status field to scheduled
b. Add a date for the date_published field
c. Add the content for other fields and save the Item

Create and Configure Your Flow

Create a new flow

Give it a memorable name and short description like Publish Scheduled Articles.
Complete the trigger setup

a. For Type, Select Schedule (CRON). This will trigger this flow at regular intervals of time.
b. Add your Interval in proper CRON syntax.
Examples
- * */1 * * * * - Would trigger this flow every minute
- * */15 * * * * – Would trigger this flow every 15 minutes

Add an Operation to Check The Published Date and Update Data

Create a new operation

Inside a Directus Flow, the Create Operation interface is shown. The Name of the operation is "Update Articles". The Key is "update_articles". The type of Operation is "Update Data". The Collection for the operation is "Articles". The Payload for the operation is a JSON object with key - status and value of published. There is also a JSON object for the Query field. A filter that checks that the item status is equal to "scheduled" and the date_published is less than or equal to the current timestamp.

a. For the type of operation, select Update Item
b. Name your operation, i.e. Update Articles or similar.
c. Under Collection, choose your content collection i.e. Articles in our example.
d. Check Emit Events

Emit events will trigger an item.update event in this flow. Be careful when using it in your flows to avoid creating infinite loops where flows continuously trigger one another.

e. Set your Payload

{
    "status": "published"
}

f. Add your filter rule in the Query field.

{
    "filter": {
        "_and": [
            {
                "status": {
                    "_eq": "scheduled"
                }
            },
            {
                "date_published": {
                    "_lte": "$NOW"
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

g. Save this Operation
h. Save your Flow

Trigger a New Build for Your Static Site

In this recipe, we'll terminate the flow here because we'll use a separate flow to trigger the build or deployment process for your site. This approach helps keep everything modular and easier to maintain.

If you haven't already, you'll want to configure one of the recipes below.

You checked Emit Events in the operation during Step 7. This will emit an item.update event which is a trigger for the Flows in the recipes above.

Final Tips

Tips

Make sure to test your flow several times to ensure everything is working as expected.
As you add other collections that are published on your static site or frontend, make sure you update this flow to include those collections in your Trigger.

Dynamic Sites

Scheduling content has fewer steps for a dynamic site. Since you are calling your Directus API at the time that a visitor requests a page from your site, all you need to do is add a filter to your query.

Check the Published Date When Calling the Directus API

When calling the API, add a filter rule that checks the date_published field.
Use the _lte operator to filter for dates that are less than or equal the current date/time.
You can use the dynamic variable $NOW to get the current timestamp.

Examples

In these examples, we're using an AND logical operator to only return records that match both conditions. This provides a little more control over your published content by ensuring only articles that have a publish date AND have the published state are displayed on your site.

Using the Directus JavaScript SDK (preferred)

// Initialize the SDK.
import { createDirectus, rest, readItems } from '@directus/sdk';

const directus = createDirectus('https://directus.example.com').with(rest());

const articles = await directus.request(
    readItems('articles', {
        filter: {
            _and: [
                {
                    status: {
                        _eq: 'published',
                    },
                },
                {
                    date_published: {
                        _lte: '$NOW',
                    },
                },
            ],
        },
    })
);

Using the Fetch API (JavaScript)

const response = await fetch(
    'https://yourdirectusurl.com/items/articles?' +
        new URLSearchParams({
            filter: {
                _and: [
                    {
                        status: {
                            _eq: 'published',
                        },
                    },
                    {
                        date_published: {
                            _lte: '$NOW',
                        },
                    },
                ],
            },
        })
);

const articles = await response.json();

Final Tips

Tips

If you're not receiving the data you expect, double-check your filter rule syntax.
Also be sure you have enabled the proper permissions for your content Collection.