> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://buttercms.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Blog Posts: key concepts > Understanding ButterCMS Blog Posts, including the predefined schema, built-in organizational features, and publication characteristics. ## Overview ButterCMS Blog Posts use a standardized, predefined schema that provides out-of-the-box functionality for chronological content with built-in organizational and authoring features. Unlike Pages and Collections, the Blog Post schema **cannot be modified** through the dashboard or API. This standardization ensures consistency across all blog content and enables built-in features that work reliably across all ButterCMS accounts. ## Predefined field structure | Field | Description | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Title** | SEO-optimized title with automatic URL slug generation | | **Body** | Rich HTML content supporting full editorial formatting | | **Summary** | Optional excerpt for post previews and social sharing | | **Featured Image** | Dedicated image field with automatic CDN optimization | | **SEO Metadata** | Built-in meta title, meta description, and Open Graph fields | | **Publication Date** | Timestamp management with scheduling capabilities | | **Status** | Draft, published, and scheduled state management | The body field supports comprehensive HTML including embedded media, formatted text, links, and other rich content. Blog Posts include built-in **Open Graph and Twitter Card metadata** for proper social media presentation when content is shared. ## Categorization and tagging ### Categories * **Hierarchical organization**: Categories support parent-child relationships for content taxonomy * **URL integration**: Categories automatically generate SEO-friendly URLs * **Filtering**: API endpoints support category-based filtering * **RSS integration**: Category-specific RSS feeds are automatically generated ### Tags * **Flexible labeling**: Non-hierarchical content labeling for cross-cutting themes * **API filtering**: `tag_slug` parameter for precise content queries * **Tag clouds**: Automatic tag frequency calculation Use categories for broad, permanent organizational structure and tags for specific topics or temporal content connections. ## Author management * **Author profiles**: Dedicated author entities with names, biographies, profile images, and social links * **Multi-author support**: Posts can be attributed to multiple authors * **Author archives**: Automatic author-specific content archives and RSS feeds * **API access**: Author information is accessible through dedicated endpoints (`/authors/`, `/authors/{slug}/`) ## Built-in features | Feature | Description | | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | **RSS 2.0 & Atom feeds** | Automatic feed generation for content syndication | | **XML sitemaps** | Search engine sitemap integration | | **Previous/Next navigation** | Automatic post navigation for chronological browsing | | **WordPress import** | Built-in migration tool from WordPress | ## Publication states Blog Posts use a **simplified three-state system** (draft, published, scheduled) without the complex versioning available to Pages. | State | Description | | ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Draft** | Accessible only via preview mode | | **Published** | Live and accessible through all blog endpoints with CDN caching | | **Scheduled** | Automatically published at a specified time via dashboard scheduling | **Versioning limitation**: Unlike Pages, Blog Posts **do not support creating draft versions over existing published content**. Once published, a post can be unpublished (returned to draft) but cannot maintain simultaneous draft and published versions. **Write API behavior**: Blog Posts are created and published immediately when using the Write API unless explicitly set to draft status. ## Localization Blog Posts support native localization via the `locale` query parameter on all blog API endpoints (list, retrieve, search, create, update, delete). * **Creating translations**: To create a translated version of an existing post, use the Update endpoint (`PATCH`) with the desired `locale` parameter. A new locale variant is created and linked to the original post * **Default locale**: When `locale` is omitted, the API returns content in your organization's default locale * **Independent publishing**: Each locale version can be published independently * **Backward compatible**: The `locale` field is not included in API responses — use the query parameter to control which locale is returned **Example — list posts in Spanish**: ```bash theme={null} GET /v2/posts/?auth_token=TOKEN&locale=es ``` ## WordPress import ButterCMS provides built-in WordPress import functionality: | Data | Migration behavior | | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Post titles, bodies, dates | Transferred accurately | | Categories | Mapped with hierarchy preservation | | Tags | Converted maintaining content relationships | | Authors | Created as ButterCMS author entities | | Media | Transferred to ButterCMS media library with CDN integration | WordPress import is a one-time migration tool requiring careful planning for large content volumes. ## API characteristics **Performance parameters**: * `locale` — filter posts by locale (defaults to organization's default locale) * `exclude_body=true` — reduces response size by 50–70% for listing operations * `category_slug` — native category-based filtering * `tag_slug` — built-in tag filtering * `author_slug` — filter by author **Example — list posts excluding body**: ```bash theme={null} GET /v2/posts/?auth_token=TOKEN&exclude_body=true&category_slug=technology ``` **Example — filter by tag**: ```bash theme={null} GET /v2/posts/?auth_token=TOKEN&tag_slug=getting-started ``` Blog Post APIs are optimized for chronological access patterns with built-in pagination, sorting, and filtering that support common blog functionality requirements. ## Next steps Fetch blog posts via the Read API Create and update blog posts Authors, categories, and tags endpoints Use Page Types for localized blog content