How revisions work: the dual-head model

A CMS without drafts is a typewriter. Here's how Morse does editorial workflow on-chain.

Every entry keeps an append-only vector of revisions: nothing is ever mutated in place. Two pointers index into it:

revisions: [rev0, rev1(draft), rev2(draft), rev3(public), rev4(draft)]
                                             ↑ public_head    ↑ draft_head

• public_head is what readers see. Stable, boring, exactly what you want production to be.
• draft_head is where work happens. Append as many drafts as you like; readers never see them.

Publishing is just moving a pointer: publish_from_draft promotes your draft to public in one transaction. Rolling back? Point at an older revision. The history stays intact either way, because the history is the data structure.

On this very blog, the version-history panel on each post is reading that vector straight from the chain. Try editing a post on your own publication and watch the revisions stack up.

Details: Entries & Revisions.