payload-plugin-scheduling

Adds scheduled publication to Payload CMS v3. Set a future publish date on any draft document and it goes live automatically when a cron hits the run endpoint — no manual publishing required.

Source: github.com/focusreactive/payload-plugins npm: @focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling Payload versions: 3.x

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Quick Start

1. Installation

pnpm add @focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling
# or
npm install @focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling

Peer dependencies: payload ^3.0.0

2. Register the plugin

// payload.config.ts
import { buildConfig } from "payload";
import { schedulePublicationPlugin } from "@focus-reactive/payload-plugin-scheduling";

export default buildConfig({
  plugins: [
    schedulePublicationPlugin({
      collections: ["pages", "posts"],
      globals: ["site-settings"], // optional
      secret: process.env.CRON_SECRET!,
    }),
  ],
});

3. Set up a cron

The endpoint GET /api/scheduled-publish/run must be called periodically (at least as often as your finest scheduling granularity).

Vercel (vercel.json)

{
  "crons": [
    {
      "path": "/api/scheduled-publish/run",
      "schedule": "* * * * *"
    }
  ]
}

Vercel automatically sends CRON_SECRET as Authorization: Bearer $CRON_SECRET. Set it in Vercel project settings and pass it to the plugin's secret option.

External cron / curl

curl -X GET https://your-cms.com/api/scheduled-publish/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SECRET"

node-cron

import cron from "node-cron";

cron.schedule("* * * * *", async () => {
  await fetch("http://localhost:3000/api/scheduled-publish/run", {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CRON_SECRET}` },
  });
});

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Configuration Reference

Option	Type	Required	Default	Description
collections	string[]	No	[]	Collection slugs to enable scheduled publishing on
globals	string[]	No	[]	Global slugs to enable scheduled publishing on
queue	string	No	"scheduled-publish"	Queue name for isolating scheduled publish jobs
secret	string	Yes	—	Bearer token required to call the run endpoint

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What the Plugin Adds

1. versions.drafts.schedulePublish: true — injected into every configured collection and global, enabling the "Schedule Publish" date picker in the admin sidebar.
2. Job queue routing — all schedulePublish jobs are routed to the "scheduled-publish" queue via a beforeChange hook on the jobs collection.
3. GET /api/scheduled-publish/run endpoint — processes all due jobs in the queue. Requires Authorization: Bearer <secret>.

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Pitfalls

• secret is required — the plugin will not compile without it. Store it in an environment variable, never in client-side code.
• No CSS, no import map step — unlike some other plugins, this one adds no UI components that need stylesheet imports or import map regeneration.
• No migration needed — the plugin adds no new collections or tables; it only modifies collection/global config and registers a job queue + endpoint.
• collections/globals slugs must match exactly — the plugin logs a warning for unknown slugs at startup.
• Cron frequency = scheduling precision — if you call the endpoint every 5 minutes, documents can only go live on 5-minute boundaries.
• queue option — change only if there is a naming conflict with other Payload job queues in your project.

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Further Reading

• Working examples → ./examples.md