ADR 0001: Post Publication Status Implementation

Status

Accepted

Context

The application needed a way to distinguish between published and unpublished posts. This was particularly important for:

Managing post visibility
Supporting draft functionality
Ensuring only published posts are displayed in the main feed
Maintaining data integrity and consistency

Decision

We decided to implement a boolean is_published field on posts with the following characteristics:

Required field when creating new posts
Default value of false for new posts
Only published posts are returned by the API endpoints
Backfilled existing posts to have is_published = true

Consequences

Positive

Clear separation between published and unpublished content
Improved data consistency
Better control over post visibility
Simplified frontend logic by moving publication status handling to the backend
Foundation for future editing workflow improvements

Negative

Required a database migration to add the new field
Needed to backfill existing data
Additional complexity in post creation and editing flows

Implementation Notes

Added is_published field to the Post model
Modified API endpoints to filter by publication status
Removed frontend publication status handling
Backfilled existing posts to maintain compatibility
Enhanced error handling for publication status validation

Overview ADR-0002: Image Upload System