Workflow¶

The API supports Wagtail's full content lifecycle: create as draft, edit, publish, unpublish, and track revision history.

Page lifecycle¶

Create (draft) → Edit → Publish → Edit (new draft) → Publish again
                                 → Unpublish (revert to draft)

Creating content¶

Pages are created as drafts by default:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"type": "blog.BlogPage", "parent": 3, "title": "New Post"}' \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/

The response shows "live": false. The page exists in the tree but isn't publicly visible.

Publish on create¶

Add "action": "publish" to create and publish in one request:

{
  "type": "blog.BlogPage",
  "parent": 3,
  "title": "New Post",
  "action": "publish"
}

Editing and revisions¶

Every PATCH creates a new revision:

curl -X PATCH \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"title": "Updated Title"}' \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/

The revision is saved but the page is not automatically published. The page now has "has_unpublished_changes": true.

Publish after editing¶

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/publish/

Edit + publish in one request¶

{
  "title": "Updated and Published",
  "action": "publish"
}

Draft vs live content¶

The detail endpoint is draft-aware:

When a page has no unpublished changes, both return the same data.

This distinction is important for editors: the user is editing the working copy, not the published version. The meta.status fields indicate the current state:

{
  "meta": {
    "live": true,
    "has_unpublished_changes": true
  }
}

Revision history¶

List all revisions for a page:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/revisions/

{
  "items": [
    {"id": 42, "created_at": "2026-03-15T14:30:00", "user": "admin"},
    {"id": 41, "created_at": "2026-03-14T10:00:00", "user": "editor"},
    {"id": 40, "created_at": "2026-03-13T09:00:00", "user": "admin"}
  ]
}

View a specific revision's content:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/revisions/41/

This returns the full page detail as it was at that revision.

Unpublishing¶

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/unpublish/

The page reverts to draft status ("live": false). Its content is preserved but it's no longer publicly visible.

Copying pages¶

Create a deep copy of a page (and optionally its descendants):

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"destination": 2, "recursive": true}' \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/copy/

The copy is created as a draft with a unique slug. Returns 201 with the new page.

Moving pages¶

Move a page to a new position in the tree:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"destination": 10, "position": "last-child"}' \
     http://localhost:8000/api/write/v1/pages/5/move/