File-Based Content

Store posts, pages, and custom post types as Markdown files.

Content Format

Create .md files with YAML front matter:

---
title: "My Post Title"
slug: "my-post-slug"
author: "admin"
date: "2024-10-31 12:00:00"
status: "publish"
categories:
  - "General"
tags: [markdown, wordpress]
featured: true
order: 5
featured_image: "https://example.com/image.jpg"
excerpt: "A short description used for SEO meta description."
---

# Your content here

Write your content in **Markdown** format.

YAML Front Matter Reference

Field	Required	Type	Description
title	✅	string	Post title
slug	✅	string	URL slug
status	❌	string	publish, draft, private — defaults to publish
date	❌	string	Publication date "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS"
author	❌	string	WordPress username
categories	❌	list or inline	Category names — controls which category archives show this post
tags	❌	list or inline	Tag slugs — controls which tag archives show this post
featured_image	❌	string	URL to featured image
excerpt	❌	string	Used as SEO meta description
Any custom field	❌	any	Stored as post property for ACF compatibility

Inline vs block list syntax — both work

# Inline (YAML array)
tags: [php, wordpress, markdown]

# Block list
tags:
  - php
  - wordpress
  - markdown

Boolean and numeric values

featured: true      # PHP bool true
draft: false        # PHP bool false
order: 5            # PHP int 5
rating: 4.5         # PHP float 4.5

Post Status Behaviour

status value	Archive	Single URL	Feed	Admin
publish	✅ Visible	✅ 200	✅ In feed	✅
draft	❌ Hidden	❌ 404	❌ Hidden	✅
private	❌ Hidden	❌ 404 (logged out)	❌ Hidden	✅

Important: Posts default to publish-only visibility — drafts are never leaked into archives, feeds, or taxonomy pages even if no status is explicitly set.

Category and Tag Archives

File-based posts appear in WordPress category and tag archives based on the categories and tags front-matter fields. Each field value is matched against the archive's slug (via sanitize_title()).

categories:
  - "Christian Music"     # appears in /category/christian-music/
tags: [worship, tamil]    # appears in /tag/worship/ and /tag/tamil/

A file-based post only appears in archives that match its declared categories/tags — it will not appear on unrelated archives.

Directory Structure

PRAISON_CONTENT_DIR/
├── posts/          # Blog posts (URL: /posts/{slug}/)
├── pages/          # Static pages (URL: /pages/{slug}/)
├── {any-name}/     # Auto-registered as custom post type
└── config/         # Reserved — not registered as post type

Each directory is auto-discovered and registered as a WordPress custom post type. The directory name becomes the URL slug and the registered post type slug.

Special case: posts/ directory registers as post type praison_post (avoids conflict with the built-in post type).

Known Limitations

Feature	Status	Notes
WP core search (?s=)	❌	File posts not in DB — not indexed
REST API (/wp-json/)	❌	show_in_rest=false
WP-CLI wp post list	❌	Injection skipped in CLI context
Category/tag by ID	⚠️	Only category_name and tag string slugs supported