Design a backend workflow where editors create content, reviewers approve it, and published users see only approved versions.

Design content approval and publishing

Designs draft, review, publish, rollback, and audit behavior for content managed by editors and admins.

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I would separate draft content from published content, either with explicit versions or status fields that make the read boundary clear. Editors can create and update drafts, reviewers can approve or reject, and publishing creates the version visible to users. Each transition records actor, timestamp, reason, and previous state. Public APIs read only published versions.

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Versioning, draft state, review state, publish boundaries, permissions, rollback, audit events, and cache invalidation.

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Why this question matters
Approval workflows appear in content, commerce, and admin tools. The design has to keep draft changes away from public reads while preserving a clean path to review, publish, and rollback.
I would separate draft content from published content, either with explicit versions or status fields that make the read boundary clear. Editors can create and update drafts, reviewers can approve or reject, and publishing creates the version visible to users. Each transition records actor, timestamp, reason, and previous state. Public APIs read only published versions.
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I would define the state machine: draft, in review, changes requested, approved, published, archived, and possibly rolled back. Transitions need capability checks and optimistic concurrency so reviewers do not approve stale edits. Publishing may invalidate caches, rebuild search indexes, or enqueue notifications. Rollback is easiest when previous published versions are retained and can be republished deliberately.

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Details

Editing the live row directly before approval.
No clear difference between draft and published reads.
Skipping stale-version checks during approval.
No rollback or history model.

Design a backend workflow where editors create content, reviewers approve it, and published users see only approved versions.

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