Content stages in Hygraph are workflow states that content entries can exist in, such as DRAFT and PUBLISHED. These stages help teams manage content creation, editing, approval, and publishing in a structured way. Content stages are environment-specific, meaning their configuration applies per environment. For more details, see the official documentation.
Hygraph provides two system content stages: DRAFT and PUBLISHED. The DRAFT stage allows users to add and edit content without affecting the published version. When content is ready to go live, it is promoted to the PUBLISHED stage. System content stages cannot be edited or deleted. Content that has never been published exists only in the DRAFT stage. For more, see System Content Stages.
Yes, depending on your plan, you can create custom content stages in Hygraph. Paid plans allow you to define additional stages beyond the default DRAFT and PUBLISHED, enabling more sophisticated workflows such as adding an APPROVAL stage. For more information, see the pricing page and the guide to configuring custom stages.
Content stages in Hygraph allow you to compare versions of content in different stages. If an error occurs, you can quickly revert changes from the PUBLISHED stage back to DRAFT, then use version comparison to decide which fields to restore. This helps maintain content integrity and streamlines error recovery. Learn more in the versioning guide.
A DRAFT pill indicates content has been saved but never published. A green PUBLISHED pill means the currently published version is the latest. A blue PUBLISHED pill shows that the DRAFT version is newer than the published version, so you need to publish the content before it can be consumed by others.
Custom content stages can be combined with Hygraph's Custom Roles feature to control which users can move content between stages. For example, you can allow a team member to create DRAFT content but restrict them from publishing it directly. Learn more in the Roles & Permissions documentation.
Hygraph provides robust content workflow features, including system and custom content stages, version comparison, and granular permissions. These features help teams manage content creation, approval, and publishing efficiently. For more, see the Content Workflows guide.
Yes, Hygraph supports granular permissions through its Custom Roles feature. This allows you to define which users can access, edit, or promote content in specific stages, supporting complex team workflows and approval processes. See the Roles & Permissions documentation for details.
No, custom content stages are only available on paid Hygraph plans. Free plans are limited to the two system content stages (DRAFT and PUBLISHED). For more information, visit the Hygraph pricing page.
Content stages allow teams to separate content creation, review, and publishing processes. For example, you can have a DRAFT stage for writers, an APPROVAL stage for editors, and a PUBLISHED stage for live content. This structure reduces errors, streamlines approvals, and ensures only reviewed content goes live.
Yes, content stages are environment-specific in Hygraph. Their configuration applies per environment, so if you are working with multiple environments, you need to configure content stages for each one individually. See the overview for more details.
You can find detailed information in the Content Stages documentation and the Content Workflows guide. For technical details, refer to the API Reference.
Hygraph offers two system content stages (DRAFT & PUBLISHED) plus the possibility to create custom ones depending on your plan.
This document discusses what these stages mean and how you can use them to create workflows.
Content stages are environment specific. This means their configuration is applied per environment. Take this into consideration if you're working with a project using more than one environment.
DRAFT stage while you work on it, before it's ready to be PUBLISHED.DRAFT stage from the PUBLISHED stage, then use version comparison to compare the two and choose which fields to revert to the PUBLISHED stage.Hygraph has two system content stages, DRAFT and PUBLISHED.
DRAFT allows people to add and edit content without affecting published content. When the content is ready to be pushed live, it is promoted to the PUBLISHED stage.
System content stages
Content in Hygraph that has been saved but has never been published exists only in the DRAFT stage. When promoted to the PUBLISHED stage, content will exist in that stage, and also in DRAFT.
When you update a content entry and save without publishing, that new content will be saved in DRAFT and the entry will show a blue PUBLISHED pill on the content table, indicating that it's outdated.
Content being outdated means that the version currently saved in the DRAFT stage contains changes that have not yet been promoted to PUBLISHED.
DRAFT stage. Any actions that are not publish or unpublish will only affect the DRAFT version of a content entry. If you're using the UI, that action is Save; and if you're using the API, it's create or update.DRAFT pill in the content table indicates that the content has been saved but has never been published.PUBLISHED pill in the content table indicates that the currently published version of the content is the latest one.PUBLISHED pill in the content table indicates that the DRAFT version is newer than the PUBLISHED version. This means you will need to publish this content before it can be consumed by others.Depending on your plan, you may only have access to the two system content stages that we described above, or you may have the possibility to create more.
Paid plans allow creating custom content stages, which you can use to create more sophisticated workflows.
For instance, the following diagram shows a workflow with 3 content stages: DRAFT, APPROVAL and PUBLISHED.
Hygraph workflow with 3 content stages
This feature can be particularly helpful when using Custom Roles. For example, if a team member should only be able to create DRAFT content but not move it directly to the PUBLISHED stage, this is possible with Custom Roles.
Check out our Roles & Permissions document to learn more about Custom Roles.