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Editorial Workflow

Editorial workflow plugin for WordPress, review, approval, and preview controls without a separate editorial platform.

by Sarah · github.com/sarahcssiqueira/editorial-platform-for-wp · website

★ 5stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/sarahcssiqueira/editorial-platform-for-wp/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

No built-in updater. New versions won't appear under Dashboard → Updates. Install new releases yourself, or let Git Updater track the repository.

Readme github.com/sarahcssiqueira/editorial-platform-for-wp ↗

✦ Editorial for WordPress

A focused editorial workflow for WordPress sites that need review, approval, preview, and publishing controls without adding a separate editorial platform.

The project is intentionally small: one plugin entry point, one shared admin theme class, and one stylesheet.

What's included

File	Purpose
`editorial-workflow.php`	Plugin entry point; custom statuses, approval flow, notifications, previews, and cache clearing
`editorial-admin-theme.php`	Shared admin experience loaded by the workflow plugin
`admin-theme/style.css`	Editorial admin and login styles

Installation

Copy the repository files into a directory inside /wp-content/plugins/, then activate Editorial Platform - For WP from the WordPress Plugins screen. Only editorial-workflow.php is a plugin entry point; it loads editorial-admin-theme.php and the stylesheet automatically.

wp-content/
└── plugins/
    └── editorial-platform-for-wp/
        ├── editorial-workflow.php
        ├── editorial-admin-theme.php
        └── admin-theme/
            └── style.css

Configuration

The workflow uses the standard WordPress author, editor, and administrator roles. On initialization it removes direct publishing from authors and grants publishing to editors. An author can publish an own post only after an editor has moved it to the approved status.

Slack notifications (optional)

Add to wp-config.php:

define( 'EDITORIAL_SLACK_WEBHOOK', 'https://hooks.slack.com/services/XXX/YYY/ZZZ' );

Editorial workflow

Author drafts post
    → clicks "Submit for Review"
        → status: pending
        → editors notified (email + Slack)
            → editor opens preview link
            → editor approves → status: approved
                → post stays unpublished
                → author can publish their approved post
                → published → cache cleared
            → editor requests changes → status: changes_requested
                → author notified with note
                → author revises → resubmits

Role features

Role	What they can do
Author	Create and edit own posts/pages, submit for review, receive change requests, mark checklist items as done, resubmit for review, publish only after editor approval
Editor	Review pending content, approve, request changes with checklist notes, track revision history, publish approved content
Administrator	Full access to all editorial actions and WordPress admin configuration

Preview features

Internal preview: editors can open split preview and see content side-by-side with the editor.
Public preview links: the workflow can generate tokenized preview URLs for unpublished content.
No-login preview: anyone with a valid token link can open the preview without a WordPress account.
Expiring access: public preview links use a stored token with expiration.

Change request communication

Editors request changes from the review panel and add one change per line.
Each request becomes a checklist for the author.
Authors can mark checklist items as done as they complete revisions.
Resubmission is gated until all checklist items are done.
Once resubmitted, the post returns to pending for editor review.
Notifications are sent by email (and optionally Slack) when review is requested, a post is approved, or changes are requested. Published posts are announced in Slack.

Development and testing

For a local WordPress installation, create at least one Author user and one Editor user. Exercise the complete review path:

The author submits a post for review.
The editor approves it or requests changes with checklist items.
The author resolves the checklist and resubmits when needed.
The author publishes only after approval.

Run the PHP syntax checks from the repository root:

php -l editorial-workflow.php
php -l editorial-admin-theme.php

Also verify internal split previews and public preview links with a valid, unexpired token.

Extending

Add custom post types to the workflow: edit the post_type checks in editorial-workflow.php
Change which menus are hidden per role: edit eat_cleanup_menu() in editorial-admin-theme.php
Add more cache plugins: extend ew_clear_cache_on_publish() in editorial-workflow.php
Swap email for a webhook: replace wp_mail() calls with wp_remote_post()

Talk: WordCamp

"Stop Blaming WordPress: Building a Real Editorial Workflow Without Leaving the Ecosystem"

This code is the live demo for the talk: Stop Blaming WordPress: Building a Real Editorial Workflow Without Leaving the Ecosystem.