add draft-then-publish workflow plan
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Plan for auto-saving drafts with explicit publish. Visitors always see published version, admins see their drafts while editing. Removes need for beforeunload warnings since work is never lost. Planned to follow unified-editing-mode completion. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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PROGRESS.md
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PROGRESS.md
@ -102,6 +102,17 @@ Extend the existing page editor (PageEditorHook + editor_sheet) to include theme
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| 1 | Fix double radio button dots in theme editor | 30m | done |
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### Draft-then-publish workflow ([plan](docs/plans/draft-publish-workflow.md))
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Auto-save drafts, explicit publish. No more lost work or `beforeunload` warnings. Visitors always see published version.
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| Phase | Description | Depends on | Est | Status |
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|-------|-------------|------------|-----|--------|
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| 1 | Page drafts (auto-save, publish/discard) | unified-editing-mode | 5h | planned |
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| 2 | Theme drafts | Phase 1 | 4h | planned |
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| 3 | Settings drafts | Phase 2 | 4h | planned |
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| 4 | Polish (age indicator, conflict handling) | Phase 3 | 5h | planned |
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### Platform site
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| # | Task | Depends on | Est | Status |
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@ -150,3 +161,4 @@ All plans in [docs/plans/](docs/plans/). Completed plans are kept as architectur
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| [unified-editing-mode.md](docs/plans/unified-editing-mode.md) | Planned |
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| [profit-aware-pricing.md](docs/plans/profit-aware-pricing.md) | Planned |
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| [security-hardening.md](docs/plans/security-hardening.md) | Planned |
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| [draft-publish-workflow.md](docs/plans/draft-publish-workflow.md) | Planned |
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docs/plans/draft-publish-workflow.md
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docs/plans/draft-publish-workflow.md
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# Draft-then-publish workflow
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**Status:** Planned (after unified-editing-mode)
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## Problem
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Current editing workflow uses explicit save — changes are either saved (immediately live) or lost on navigation. This creates:
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1. **Data loss anxiety** — navigate away accidentally, lose all work
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2. **`beforeunload` warnings** — browser-native dialogs with no custom options
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3. **No experimentation** — can't safely try changes without affecting live site
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## Solution
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Implement a draft-then-publish model where all edits auto-save as drafts, visitors see only published versions, and explicit "Publish" commits changes live.
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## Design principles
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1. **Drafts are per-user** — each admin sees their own pending changes
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2. **Visitors always see published** — no accidental exposure of drafts
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3. **Auto-save constantly** — no risk of lost work
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4. **Clear visual distinction** — obvious when viewing draft vs published
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5. **Single publish action** — one button publishes all pending changes
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## Scope
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Three types of editable content:
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| Type | Storage | Draft approach |
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|------|---------|----------------|
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| Page blocks | `pages.blocks` (JSON) | `draft_blocks` column |
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| Theme settings | `settings.theme_settings` (JSON) | `draft_theme_settings` key |
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| Shop settings | `settings` table (various keys) | `draft_*` keys or `settings_drafts` table |
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## Data model
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### Option A: Draft columns (recommended for simplicity)
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```elixir
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# Migration: add draft columns to pages
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alter table(:pages) do
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add :draft_blocks, :map
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add :draft_user_id, references(:users, type: :binary_id, on_delete: :nilify_all)
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add :draft_updated_at, :utc_datetime_usec
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end
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# New settings keys
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# - "draft_theme_settings" → JSON blob
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# - "draft_site_name" → string
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# - "draft_header_nav" → JSON
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# etc.
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```
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### Option B: Separate drafts table (more flexible)
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```elixir
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create table(:drafts, primary_key: false) do
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add :id, :binary_id, primary_key: true
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add :user_id, references(:users, type: :binary_id, on_delete: :delete_all), null: false
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add :entity_type, :string, null: false # "page", "theme", "settings"
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add :entity_id, :string # page id, or nil for global
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add :data, :map, null: false
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timestamps(type: :utc_datetime_usec)
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end
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create unique_index(:drafts, [:user_id, :entity_type, :entity_id])
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```
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**Recommendation:** Start with Option A (simpler), migrate to Option B if multi-user or more complex draft needs emerge.
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## Implementation
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### Phase 1: Page drafts
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| Task | Est | Notes |
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|------|-----|-------|
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| Add draft columns to pages table | 30m | Migration |
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| Update Pages context with draft functions | 1h | `save_draft/2`, `publish_draft/1`, `discard_draft/1`, `has_draft?/1` |
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| Modify PageEditorHook to auto-save drafts | 1h | Debounced save on every change |
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| Add "Publish" and "Discard" buttons to editor | 1h | Replace current "Save" |
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| Show draft indicator when viewing page with unpublished changes | 1h | Banner or badge |
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| Remove `beforeunload` warning (no longer needed) | 15m | Drafts persist |
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### Phase 2: Theme drafts
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| Task | Est | Notes |
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|------|-----|-------|
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| Add draft_theme_settings to settings | 30m | New key |
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| Update Settings context with theme draft functions | 1h | Similar to pages |
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| Modify theme editor to auto-save drafts | 1h | |
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| Theme preview shows draft, shop shows published | 1h | Conditional CSS injection |
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| Add publish/discard to theme editor | 30m | |
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### Phase 3: Settings drafts
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| Task | Est | Notes |
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|------|-----|-------|
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| Decide which settings are draftable | 30m | Not all need drafts (e.g. API keys) |
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| Add draft handling to Settings context | 1.5h | |
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| Update settings editor to use drafts | 1h | |
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| Unified "Publish all" option | 1h | Publish page + theme + settings together |
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### Phase 4: Polish
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| Task | Est | Notes |
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|------|-----|-------|
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| Draft age indicator ("Last saved 5 mins ago") | 30m | |
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| Draft conflict handling (stale draft warning) | 1h | Edge case: published changed since draft created |
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| Version history / rollback (stretch goal) | 3h | Store previous published versions |
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## UX flow
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### Editing a page
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1. Admin navigates to page, clicks "Edit"
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2. Editor panel opens, showing current published state
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3. Admin makes changes — **auto-saved as draft every few seconds**
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4. Admin can navigate away freely — draft persists
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5. Admin returns later — draft loaded automatically
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6. "Publish" button commits draft → published
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7. "Discard" button deletes draft, reverts to published
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### Visual indicators
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```
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ ⚠️ You have unpublished changes (last saved 2 mins ago) │
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│ [Publish] [Discard] │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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```
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When admin views a page with a draft:
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- Banner at top of editor panel
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- "Unpublished" badge next to page title
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- Different background tint in editor (subtle)
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### Visitors see published only
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The `render_page/1` function checks:
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1. If admin is viewing AND has draft → show draft
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2. Otherwise → show published `blocks`
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```elixir
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defp get_blocks_for_render(page, current_user) do
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if current_user && page.draft_user_id == current_user.id && page.draft_blocks do
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page.draft_blocks
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else
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page.blocks
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end
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end
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```
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## Migration path
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1. Deploy with draft support disabled (feature flag)
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2. Run migration to add draft columns
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3. Enable draft mode
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4. Existing pages continue working (no draft = show published)
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5. New edits create drafts
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## Future considerations
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- **Multi-user drafts** — currently single draft per page, could extend to per-user drafts
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- **Draft preview link** — shareable URL that shows draft to non-admins (for review)
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- **Scheduled publishing** — "Publish at 9am tomorrow"
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- **Draft comparison** — side-by-side diff of draft vs published
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## Dependencies
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- Unified editing mode (phases 1-7) must be complete first
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- This work builds on the editor panel UI established there
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## Estimates
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| Phase | Est |
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|-------|-----|
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| Phase 1: Page drafts | 5h |
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| Phase 2: Theme drafts | 4h |
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| Phase 3: Settings drafts | 4h |
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| Phase 4: Polish | 5h |
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| **Total** | **18h** |
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## References
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- [Squarespace draft model](https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205815578-Saving-and-publishing-site-changes)
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- [Shopify theme versions](https://shopify.dev/docs/themes/architecture#theme-versions)
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- [WordPress autosave](https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/post/autosave/)
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