How to exclude draft markdown post in Eleventy 11ty project

• 2 min read

To exclude draft Markdown posts in an Eleventy (11ty) project, follow these steps:

Step 1: Modify the Eleventy Configuration #

In your .eleventy.js file, add this snippet of code:

eleventyConfig.addCollection("all", function(collectionApi) {
  return collectionApi.getAll().filter(function(item) {
    return !item.data.draft || !isProduction;
  });
});
  • This configuration checks each item’s front matter for the draft flag.
  • If draft: true is set and isProduction is true (indicating a production environment), the item will be excluded from the “all” collection.
  • This is particularly useful for sitemaps or any other part of your site that shouldn’t include drafts.

Markdown files with draft flag still are not excluded from other collections, the one defined by the tags property in frontmatter.

Step 2: Mark Drafts in Markdown #

In your Markdown files, you can mark posts as drafts by adding a draft flag in the front matter:

---
draft: true
---

Step 3: Handle Collections Automatically Created by Tags #

Collections in Eleventy are automatically created based on tags, so you have two options:

Adapt the Filter Snippet for Each Collection: You could modify the above filter snippet to apply to each specific collection by adjusting the tag-based collections in your .eleventy.js configuration, such as:

eleventyConfig.addCollection("posts", function(collectionApi) {
    return collectionApi.getFilteredByGlob("src/posts/*.md");
});

Comment Out Tags in Front Matter: Alternatively, you can comment out the tags field in the front matter of draft posts:

---
# tags: posts
draft: true
---

This approach ensures that the post is excluded from both the “all” collection and other collections based on tags.