Smart collections

Build dynamic listings of events, posts, people, and other content using rules, with their own pages on your site

A smart collection is a dynamic listing of records that match a rule, with its own page on your site. "Upcoming events", "Reviews from this season", "All work by a particular composer", "Sponsors at the platinum tier" — each is a smart collection.

Open Smart Collections under Website in Basker. The editor is subtitled Create dynamic lists of content using filters. The editor has two tabs — Collection for the rules and metadata, and Content for any extra body content the listing page renders.

Smart collections combine three things:

A target content type — the kind of records the collection lists (events, posts, people, and so on).
A set of conditions — the rules that decide which records belong.
A public page on your site that renders the matching records using your theme.

Once you set the rules, the collection updates itself automatically. New records that match the conditions appear; records that no longer match drop out. There's no need to maintain the list by hand.

When to use a smart collection

Good candidates:

Listings that always need to be current — upcoming events, recent posts, people active this season.
Curated programmes that follow a clear rule — "all events tagged with our outreach series".
Cross-content groupings — a "World Premiere" collection that includes events, posts, and works.
Theme blocks that need a feed — a smart collection can power a "What's on" block on your homepage.

Less good candidates:

A short, fixed list of records that won't change — a manual selection (see below) is simpler.
A grouping that's already covered by an existing concept — events in a season already have a season page; you don't need a smart collection for that.

Automated and manual collections

A smart collection can be either:

Automated (query-based) — Basker matches records against your conditions and updates the listing as content changes. This is the default and the most common case.
Manual selection — you pick the records by hand. Useful for one-off curated lists where the rule is "these specific things, in this specific order".

Both types render the same way on the live site. The difference is whether you maintain the list by rule or by selection.

Build a smart collection

Set the title and description

The title becomes the heading of the collection's public page and its label in any internal listings. The description is shown below the title and used for SEO and social previews.

Choose the target content type

Pick which kind of records the collection lists — events, posts, people, venues, and so on. A smart collection lists one type of record at a time.

Pick the collection type

Choose between Automated (records are picked by rules) and Manual selection (records are picked by hand). Automated is the default and works well for anything that needs to stay current.

Add conditions (automated collections)

For an automated collection, add the conditions that records must meet to be included. Each condition specifies a field (what to look at), an operator (how to compare), and a value (what to compare to).

Choose Match all conditions if every condition must be true, or Match any condition if at least one must be true.

See Conditions and rules for the full list of available fields and operators, including date-based rules like "starting in the next 7 days".

Pick records (manual collections)

For a manual collection, pick the records yourself and order them as you want them to appear. You can re-order, add, or remove records at any time.

Set up SEO and visibility

Smart collections support the same SEO and visibility controls as other content. See SEO and Visibility.

Save as a draft

Save the smart collection as a draft to preview the listing before it goes live. The preview shows the records that match your current conditions.

When you're happy, publish the collection. Its public page goes live at the URL formed from the collection's slug.

Where smart collections appear

A smart collection has its own URL on the live site. Your theme decides how the listing renders — most themes show the matching records in a grid or list, often with the collection's title and description at the top.

Smart collections are also reusable inside content. A theme that exposes a "Featured listing" block can be configured to pull from a smart collection, so the same listing rule powers both a standalone page and an embedded block elsewhere on your site.