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Connect Payload and the Content Agent can send a finished article straight into a collection in your Payload CMS as a draft, in your default language. Headings, lists, links and images come across with it. Your team reviews the draft in the Payload admin and publishes it there.
The Payload integration is in Beta. Connect it per brand; nothing is shared across brands.

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Before you start

  • Your organization needs an active 3RD subscription with the Content Agent.
  • You need edit access to the brand in 3RD. View-only members don’t see the Connect button.
  • You connect per brand. Each brand links its own Payload site.
  • Your Payload site is reached over https.
  • You need a Payload account in the users collection that can edit your content, with Enable API Key on its account page. If you don’t see Enable API Key, ask your developer to turn on API keys for users.
  • The collection articles go to needs drafts turned on. 3RD won’t write to a collection without drafts, because saving there would publish.

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Connect Payload

1

Open Integrations

In 3RD, open Settings → Integrations for the brand.
2

Click Connect

In the Payload row, click Connect. The Connect Payload CMS window opens. Type your Payload address, such as https://cms.example.com, and click Open this page in Payload to jump to your account page in the Payload admin.
3

Turn on an API key

In the Payload admin (usually your site address followed by /admin), click your profile picture at the top right to open your account. Tick Enable API Key, then click Save. Copy the API Key shown under it.
4

Paste your details

Back in 3RD, click Next. Check the Payload address, paste the API key and click Connect. The key is 36 characters: letters and numbers in five groups joined by dashes. It is not your password.
5

Choose where pieces go

3RD checks the key with your site, then the Where drafts go window opens by itself. Check the collection and field names and click Save.
If you already have your details, click I already have my details to go straight to the fields.
3RD saves drafts as the account the key belongs to, so use one that can edit your content. If your admin isn’t at /admin, open your account from the admin instead of the button in 3RD.

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Choose where pieces go

Drafts go to the posts collection until you choose otherwise. In the Where drafts go window, type the names exactly as they appear in the collection’s Payload config: Write a field inside a group with a dot, such as meta.title. Leave an optional field empty to skip it. Images are uploaded to your media collection. An image that can’t be copied stays a link to its original address, and 3RD tells you how many. To change the collection or fields later, open the ⋯ menu in the Payload row and click Choose where pieces go. The next push of an article makes a new draft in the new collection.

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Push an article to Payload

1

Open the article

In the Content Agent, open a new article (not an optimization of an existing page).
2

Send it as a draft

Click Push to Payload. If the brand has more than one CMS connected, the button says Push to CMS and you pick Payload in the window. Check the Address and click Send as draft. 3RD shows Draft created in Payload when it’s done.
3

Review it in Payload

Open the collection in the Payload admin. The new document has the status Draft.
Pushing the same article again updates the same document instead of creating a new one, so you can keep editing in 3RD and push again. If the document was deleted in Payload, 3RD makes a new one.

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Drafts only

3RD only ever creates or updates drafts. It never publishes and never deletes anything. Before every push, 3RD checks that the collection still has drafts turned on, and stops if it doesn’t. If the document is already published, pushing again saves a new draft of it. 3RD shows Draft updated in Payload. The live version is unchanged. The live page stays as it is until someone publishes the new draft in Payload.

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Disconnect

Open the ⋯ menu in the Payload row and click Disconnect. 3RD stops sending anything to Payload and deletes the key it stored. Documents already in Payload stay where they are.

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Troubleshooting