feat(core): WordPress-style date tokens in url_pattern ({year}/{month}/{day}) by swissky · Pull Request #1526 · emdash-cms/emdash

swissky · 2026-06-17T15:58:54Z

What does this PR do?

Adds WordPress-style date tokens to collection url_pattern, so teams migrating from WordPress can reproduce their permalink structure (e.g. /2018/05/28/my-post or the classic /{year}/{month}/{day}/{slug}.html).

url_pattern now resolves these tokens in addition to the existing {slug} / {id}:

{year} {month} {day} {hour} {minute} {second} — from the entry's publish date (zero-padded). Using the publish date (not updated_at) keeps permalinks stable across later edits.

Literal suffixes like .html already work (they're literal text in the pattern). The tokens are substituted by the single core resolver interpolateUrlPattern, so they apply consistently to sitemap canonical URLs (+ hreflang) and the admin "View published" links. Tokens are left untouched when no valid publish date is available, so an unpublished/dateless entry never produces a half-resolved URL.

url_pattern is presentational in EmDash core (core serves no content routes — templates own routing), so this is the forward / canonical-URL side. Reverse-matching an incoming dated URL back to an entry remains the template's job, unchanged here.

Discussion: #1525

Type of change

Checklist

I have read CONTRIBUTING.md
pnpm typecheck passes — emdash (core) is clean. The admin package shows 8 pre-existing RegistryPluginDetail.tsx implicit-any errors that also occur on main without this change (shallow-clone/unbuilt-dep artifact); none are in the files this PR touches.
pnpm lint passes (oxlint --type-aware --deny-warnings, clean on changed files)
pnpm test — added unit tests for the date-token substitution; tests/unit/i18n/resolve.test.ts passes (15/15) locally. (The admin browser-vitest harness doesn't start in my local env — relying on repo CI for it.)
pnpm format has been run
I have added/updated tests for my changes
User-visible strings wrapped for translation (URL-pattern help text). No messages.po changes included.
I have added a changeset (emdash + @emdash-cms/admin, minor)
New features link to a Discussion: WordPress-style permalink structure tags for url_pattern ({year}/{month}/{day}/{slug}) #1525

AI-generated code disclosure

This PR includes AI-generated code — model/tool: Cursor + Claude Opus 4.8

Screenshots / test output

✓ tests/unit/i18n/resolve.test.ts (15 tests)
  ✓ interpolateUrlPattern > substitutes WordPress-style date tokens from the publish date (zero-padded)
  ✓ interpolateUrlPattern > supports hour/minute/second date tokens
  ✓ interpolateUrlPattern > leaves date tokens untouched when no valid date is provided

Example: pattern /{year}/{month}/{day}/{slug}.html + publish date 2018-05-08 → /2018/05/08/hello.html.

Notes / follow-ups

The menu resolver (packages/core/src/menus/index.ts) keeps its own {slug}/{id} interpolation and does not yet resolve date tokens — a small follow-up could route it through the shared resolver. Raised in the Discussion.

changeset-bot · 2026-06-17T15:59:08Z

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: 39bcf9e

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 16 packages

Name	Type
emdash	Minor
@emdash-cms/admin	Minor
@emdash-cms/cloudflare	Minor
@emdash-cms/sandbox-workerd	Patch
@emdash-cms/fixture-perf-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/perf-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/cache-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/do-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/do-solo-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/auth	Minor
@emdash-cms/blocks	Minor
@emdash-cms/gutenberg-to-portable-text	Minor
@emdash-cms/x402	Minor
create-emdash	Minor
@emdash-cms/auth-atproto	Patch
@emdash-cms/plugin-embeds	Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

pkg-pr-new · 2026-06-17T16:02:33Z

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commit: 39bcf9e

… and i18n prefix The code comment claimed date tokens resolve through url_pattern, but interpolateUrlPattern only substitutes {slug}/{id} (date tokens are PR emdash-cms#1526, not yet merged) — comment now sticks to what exists. Two new route tests close the review's coverage gaps: EMDASH_PREVIEW_PATH_PATTERN still wins over a configured url_pattern, and a non-default-locale entry gets its locale prefix via localizePath.

emdashbot

Approach judgment: this is the right change. WordPress-style date tokens are a natural, additive extension of url_pattern and fit EmDash’s model where core only owns the forward/canonical URL side while templates own reverse routing. It links to the approved Discussion, includes a changeset, and the implementation is narrowly scoped around a single core resolver.

What I checked

The new interpolateUrlPattern date-token logic and its unit tests.
The sitemap SQL/output changes (published_at added to handler and route).
Admin integration in ContentEditor, ContentList, ContentTypeEditor help text, and contentUrl.
AGENTS.md conventions: Lingui wrapping, RTL-safe Tailwind (no new physical classes), SQL parameterization, changeset coverage.
Cross-cutting consumers of url_pattern: menu resolver, redirect auto-generation, and resolveEmDashPath reverse matching.

Headline conclusion: the feature is clean and tests pass according to the PR, but there is one concrete data-integrity gap and a small inconsistency that should be fixed before merge. Auto-redirects on slug changes are not updated for date tokens, so dated URL patterns will emit broken redirects with literal {year}/{month}/{day} braces. The admin/sitemap updatedAt fallback for date resolution also conflicts with the stated “stay literal without a publish date” behavior.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

+}
+
+/**
+ * Interpolate a collection `url_pattern` with a row's slug, id and publish date.


[needs fixing] This PR introduces date tokens to url_pattern, but RedirectRepository.createAutoRedirect (packages/core/src/database/repositories/redirect.ts:352) still interpolates patterns with only string .replace("{slug}", oldSlug).replace("{id}", contentId).

For a pattern like /{year}/{month}/{day}/{slug}.html, a slug change creates an auto-redirect whose source and destination contain literal braces:

/{year}/{month}/{day}/{old-slug}.html → /{year}/{month}/{day}/{new-slug}.html

A real request to /2023/05/08/old-slug.html will never match that source, so the old URL 404s instead of redirecting. This is a direct regression risk for the new date-token feature.

Fix direction:

Pass the entry’s published_at into createAutoRedirect (select it in createSlugChangeRedirect or flow it from the caller).

Build oldUrl/newUrl through the shared interpolateUrlPattern (or the same applyDateTokens logic) so date tokens resolve consistently with canonical URLs.

Add an integration test for createAutoRedirect with a date-token pattern.

Fixed in 721f982 — createSlugChangeRedirect now selects the entry's published_at and createAutoRedirect builds both URLs through the shared interpolateUrlPattern (which also normalizes slashes/encoding). Two new repository tests: date tokens resolve from the publish date, and stay literal when there is none.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

 				slug: entry.slug || entry.id,
 				id: entry.id,
+				// Published date keeps date-token permalinks stable across edits.
+				date: entry.publishedAt ?? entry.updatedAt,


[suggestion] The sitemap passes entry.publishedAt ?? entry.updatedAt to interpolateUrlPattern. The PR description says tokens are resolved from the publish date and stay literal when no publish date is available; falling back to updatedAt means the canonical URL for an entry without publishedAt can shift on every edit, undermining the stability goal. Since the SQL already filters to status = 'published', publishedAt should be non-null for every sitemap row.

Suggested change

date: entry.publishedAt ?? entry.updatedAt,

date: entry.publishedAt,

Fixed in 721f982 — the sitemap passes entry.publishedAt only; since the query filters status = 'published' the value is present for every row, and tokens stay literal in the (theoretical) absence, consistent with the resolver's documented behavior.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

 			} else {
 				window.open(
-					contentUrl(collection, slug || item.id, urlPattern),
+					contentUrl(collection, slug || item.id, urlPattern, item.publishedAt ?? item.updatedAt),


[suggestion] The preview fallback uses updatedAt when publishedAt is absent. That resolves date tokens from the modification date, which can make the preview URL differ from the eventual published URL and conflicts with the stated behavior that tokens stay literal without a publish date.

Suggested change

contentUrl(collection, slug || item.id, urlPattern, item.publishedAt ?? item.updatedAt),

contentUrl(collection, slug || item.id, urlPattern, item.publishedAt),

Fixed in 721f982 — the preview fallback (both call sites in handlePreview) now passes item.publishedAt without the updatedAt fallback.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

+									href={contentUrl(
+										collection,
+										item.slug,
+										urlPattern,


[suggestion] The Live View link is gated on isLive, but it still falls back to updatedAt when publishedAt is missing. To keep the behavior consistent with the new resolver, pass only publishedAt so tokens remain literal when no publish date exists.

Suggested change

urlPattern,

item.publishedAt,

Fixed in 721f982 — the Live View link passes item.publishedAt only.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

+							href={contentUrl(
+								collection,
+								item.slug,
+								urlPattern,


[suggestion] Only published entries render this link, so publishedAt is the right date source. Dropping the updatedAt fallback keeps the admin link consistent with the canonical/sitemap resolver.

Suggested change

urlPattern,

item.publishedAt,

Fixed in 721f982 — the ContentList link passes item.publishedAt only.

emdashbot · 2026-07-10T10:04:16Z

+}
+
+/**
+ * Interpolate a collection `url_pattern` with a row's slug, id and publish date.


[suggestion] The PR description already flags this as a follow-up, but worth confirming here: packages/core/src/menus/index.ts defines its own interpolateUrlPattern that only replaces {slug} and {id}. Menu links for dated patterns will render literal {year}/{month}/{day} placeholders until that resolver is routed through the shared one. Consider handling it before users start relying on the new tokens, since menus are a primary navigation surface.

Done in 721f982 rather than deferring — the menus resolver now selects published_at alongside id/slug and routes through the shared interpolateUrlPattern (its private {slug}/{id}-only copy is deleted). New test: a /{year}/{month}/{slug} pattern renders /2023/05/widget-co for a menu entry reference.

…edAt fallbacks createAutoRedirect and the menu content resolver now build URLs through the shared interpolateUrlPattern with the entry's publish date — string .replace left literal {year}-style braces in redirect sources, so old URLs 404ed instead of redirecting. Admin preview/live links and the sitemap no longer fall back to updatedAt: tokens stay literal without a publish date, keeping canonical URLs stable across edits.

github-actions · 2026-07-12T12:29:09Z

Overlapping PRs

This PR modifies files that are also changed by other open PRs:

feat(core): configurable displayField and dateField per collection #1973 (3 shared files)

This may cause merge conflicts or duplicated work. A maintainer will coordinate.

emdashbot

Re-review of the date-token permalink feature. The two gaps from the previous review are fixed: slug-change auto-redirects now resolve date tokens from published_at, and the sitemap no longer falls back to updatedAt for token resolution.

The approach still looks right — WordPress-style date tokens are a narrow, additive extension of url_pattern and stay on the forward/canonical-URL side, which matches EmDash's model.

Fresh scan found one concrete inconsistency: getHreflangAlternatesWithDb calls interpolateUrlPattern without passing a publish date, so hreflang alternate URLs will contain literal {year}/{month}/{day} braces when a collection uses a dated pattern. The module itself says it "mirrors the sitemap route's semantics," and the sitemap route does pass publishedAt, so this is a correctness gap in the same canonical-URL surface. Fix is a one-line addition plus a test.

Everything else I checked looks clean: Lingui-wrapped help text, no new physical Tailwind classes, published_at query is parameterized/identifier-validated, tests are added for resolve/redirect/menu cases, and the changeset covers both packages. The PR description's note that the menu resolver doesn't yet resolve date tokens is now out of date — the implementation does route it through the shared resolver.

The single finding below is blocking-ish; once hreflang is aligned this is an easy approve.

Findings

[needs fixing] packages/core/src/seo/hreflang.ts:165-170

getHreflangAlternatesWithDb still calls interpolateUrlPattern without a publish date, so date-token patterns emit literal {year}/{month}/{day} braces in <link rel="alternate"> URLs. This contradicts the module's stated goal of mirroring the sitemap route's semantics (and the sitemap route now passes entry.publishedAt).
```
		const path = interpolateUrlPattern({
			pattern: urlPattern,
			collection,
			slug: variant.slug || variant.id,
			id: variant.id,
			date: variant.publishedAt,
		});
```
ContentItem already exposes publishedAt, so variant.publishedAt is available here. Please also add a test in tests/integration/seo/hreflang.test.ts with a dated url_pattern so hreflang stays in sync with the sitemap going forward.

github-actions Bot added the review/needs-review No maintainer or bot review yet label Jun 17, 2026

github-actions Bot added area/admin area/core size/M cla: signed labels Jun 17, 2026

github-actions Bot added the needs-rebase label Jul 1, 2026

swissky mentioned this pull request Jul 3, 2026

fix(core): resolve collection url_pattern for content preview links #1745

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ascorbic added this to the 1.0 milestone Jul 8, 2026

swissky force-pushed the feat/permalink-date-tokens branch from 0ff126b to 2fb1b9f Compare July 9, 2026 18:51

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swissky and others added 3 commits July 11, 2026 17:16

feat(core): WordPress-style date tokens in url_pattern

1c161d7

style: format

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swissky force-pushed the feat/permalink-date-tokens branch from 721f982 to de8d507 Compare July 11, 2026 15:18

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github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Jul 12, 2026

feat(core): configurable displayField and dateField per collection #1973

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github-actions Bot added review/awaiting-author Reviewed; waiting on the author to respond needs-rebase and removed review/needs-rereview Author pushed changes since the last review labels Jul 12, 2026

	date: entry.publishedAt ?? entry.updatedAt,
	date: entry.publishedAt,

	contentUrl(collection, slug \|\| item.id, urlPattern, item.publishedAt ?? item.updatedAt),
	contentUrl(collection, slug \|\| item.id, urlPattern, item.publishedAt),

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swissky commented Jun 17, 2026

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