Node reference

Update Article for Joomla

Updates an existing Joomla article from a flow — title, body, images, or metadata — when the source of truth is not the admin form.

Overview

Updates an existing Joomla article from a flow — title, body, images, or metadata — when the source of truth is not the admin form.

When the flow reaches this step, JOrchestrator executes Update Article against your linked site or an external integration, using the field values you set on General and Design. Downstream steps can read the output payload fields defined for this node.

Why use this node

Update Article is a action step in the Articles group. Action steps run in the middle or end of a flow. They perform work on your CMS, call external services, or transform data for the next step.

Typical reasons teams add Update Article to a flow:

Patch an article after a webhook or AI rewrite
Keep translations or SEO fields in sync from an external system
Avoid a custom content plugin for routine field updates

Example workflows

Common patterns on the canvas:

Trigger or Webhook → upstream steps → Update Article → Send Email or CMS update
Scheduled trigger → Update Article → Debug (while testing) → production action

How to set it up

Pick the article on General; leave optional fields empty to keep current values.

Good to know

Tag labels from payload merge onto the article without removing existing tags when configured.

Properties panel

The designer shows these tabs for this node:

Tab	Purpose
Info	Plain-language description and output payload fields for downstream steps
General	Canvas label and read-only node ID
AI	Optional assistant to help draft settings from plain language
Design	Node-specific configuration fields

System (automatic — not edited by the user)

These fields are managed by the designer or runtime — you do not type into them directly:

Property key	Label	Type	Required	Visible when	Notes
`_nodeId`	Node ID	`node-id`	No	—	—
`_payloadFields`	Available Fields	`payload-panel`	No	—	—

User-configured — General tab

Property key	Label	Type	Required	Visible when	Notes
`label`	Label	`text`	No	—	Node label
`title`	New Title (optional)	`text`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current

| tagLabels | Tag labels from payload (optional) | payload-text | No | — | ["News","Fashion"] or {{node_id.tags}} Optional JSON array of tag titles after resolving {{placeholders}}, e.g. ["News","Fashion"] or {{node_id.tags}}.

If a title does not exist in Joomla Tags, it is created when the flow runs (same defaults as Create Tag: under root, published). Requires permission to create tags. Values are merged with Tags (existing) above and deduplicated. Leave both empty to leave article tags unchanged on update. |

`alias`	New alias (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`access`	Access (optional)	`select` (` `\|` 1 `\|` 2 `\|` 3 `\|` 4 `\|` 5 `\|` 6 `\|` 7 `\|` 8`)	No	—	—
`featured`	Featured (optional)	`toggle`	No	—	—
`note`	Note (optional)	`text`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`publish_up`	Start publishing (optional)	`datetime`	No	—	—
`publish_down`	Finish publishing (optional)	`datetime`	No	—	—
`createdByAlias`	Author alias (optional)	`text`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`metadesc`	Meta description (optional)	`textarea`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`metakey`	Meta keywords (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`state`	New State (optional)	`select` (` `\|` published `\|` unpublished `\|` archived `\|` trashed`)	No	—	—

User-configured — Design tab

Property key	Label	Type	Required	Visible when	Notes
`introtext`	New Intro Text (optional)	`wysiwyg`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`fulltext`	New Full Text (optional)	`wysiwyg`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`imageIntro`	Intro image (optional)	`article-image-source`	No	—	{{ai_node.image}} or images/… or data:image/png;base64,… Drag {{node.image}}, {{node.path}}, or {{node.url}} from a prior step, paste data:image/…;base64,…, pick from Joomla media below, or enter images/… path. When the resolved value is image bytes (data URI, raw base64, or https URL), it is saved under /images using the save options below (same rules as Upload Media).
`imageIntroUseRandomName`	Intro image: random file name when saving bytes	`toggle` (default: `true`)	No	—	On: auto name under folder. Off: use path below as full images/… path.
`imageIntroFolder`	Intro image: folder under /images	`payload-text`	No	—	e.g. articles/2025 — optional when saving bytes from {{placeholders}}
`imageIntroSavePath`	Intro image: path under folder	`payload-text`	No	—	Random name ON: subfolders only (e.g. hero). OFF: full path + filename (e.g. hero/cover.jpg).
`imageIntroRandomSalt`	Intro image: name prefix (optional)	`random-name-salt`	No	`imageIntroUseRandomName === true`	—
`imageIntroAlt`	Intro image alt (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	—
`imageIntroCaption`	Intro image caption (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	—
`imageFulltext`	Full article image (optional)	`article-image-source`	No	—	{{ai_node.image}} or images/… or data:image/png;base64,… Drag {{node.image}}, {{node.path}}, or {{node.url}} from a prior step, paste data:image/…;base64,…, pick from Joomla media below, or enter images/… path. When the resolved value is image bytes (data URI, raw base64, or https URL), it is saved under /images using the save options below (same rules as Upload Media).
`imageFulltextUseRandomName`	Full article image: random file name when saving bytes	`toggle` (default: `true`)	No	—	On: auto name under folder. Off: use path below as full images/… path.
`imageFulltextFolder`	Full article image: folder under /images	`payload-text`	No	—	e.g. articles/2025 — optional when saving bytes from {{placeholders}}
`imageFulltextSavePath`	Full article image: path under folder	`payload-text`	No	—	Random name ON: subfolders only (e.g. hero). OFF: full path + filename (e.g. hero/cover.jpg).
`imageFulltextRandomSalt`	Full article image: name prefix (optional)	`random-name-salt`	No	`imageFulltextUseRandomName === true`	—
`imageFulltextAlt`	Full article image alt (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	—
`imageFulltextCaption`	Full article image caption (optional)	`payload-text`	No	—	—

CMS-backed or hybrid (loaded from the linked site at design time)

These fields can pull live options or values from the Joomla/WordPress site linked to the flow:

Property key	Label	Type	Required	Visible when	Notes
`createdBy`	Author (optional)	`email-recipient`	No	—	Change displayed author — user ID or select user… Value kind: `userId`

CMS-backed (options from the linked site)

Property key	Label	Type	Required	Visible when	Notes
`id`	Article to Update	`article-select`	Yes	—	—
`catid`	New Category (optional)	`category-select`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current
`tagIds`	Tags (existing)	`tags-multi`	No	—	Replace article tags when you select or add labels below
`language`	Language (optional)	`content-language-select`	No	—	Leave empty to keep current

CMS site configuration (not on this node's properties panel)

Credentials, API keys, mailers, SMTP, and integration defaults are configured in the CMS plugin under Node Configuration, not per step on this node. Link the flow to a domain before testing CMS-backed fields.

Output payload fields

After this step runs, later nodes can reference these fields using placeholders such as {{update_article.id}}.

Field key	Type	Description
`id`	string	Primary record identifier.
`title`	string	Title text for the created or updated record.
`url`	string	Public HTTP URL to a resource on the site.
`link`	string	Canonical link URL for the record.
`alias`	string	URL-safe alias / slug.
`catid`	string	Category ID.
`state`	number	Published state (0 = unpublished, 1 = published).
`created_by`	number	Numeric value from this node's output.
`introtext`	string	Article introduction / teaser HTML.
`fulltext`	string	Article main body HTML.
`imageIntro`	string	Intro image URL on the article.
`imageFulltext`	string	Fulltext image URL on the article.
`tag_ids`	object	Tag IDs attached to the article.