From f96863fad17da2c1ae217966d9f2e2c4daeef4bb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Francisco=20Ign=C3=A1cio=20Fontoura=20Solla?= <fsolla@pm.me>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 21:24:02 -0300
Subject: [PATCH] Add secured on-demand revalidation endpoint for posts cache

Public post pages read through the `posts`-tagged unstable_cache wrappers,
so their data is frozen at build time until revalidateTag('posts') runs in
the deployed runtime. A direct-DB seed (pnpm db:seed:posts) writes past the
Payload afterChange hooks (next/cache is stubbed), so nothing busts the tag
in prod and seeded posts never surface publicly.

Add POST /api/revalidate, guarded by a REVALIDATE_SECRET shared secret
(constant-time compare), that calls revalidatePostsListing() to refresh the
home page, all listings, and all article routes at once. Document the env var
in .env.example; it must be set in Vercel for production.
---
 .env.example                               |  6 +++
 src/app/(frontend)/api/revalidate/route.ts | 54 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 60 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 src/app/(frontend)/api/revalidate/route.ts

diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 6e780924..ee717268 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -10,5 +10,11 @@ PAYLOAD_SECRET=YOUR_SECRET_HERE
 BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN=YOUR_BLOB_TOKEN_HERE
 NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000
 
+# Shared secret guarding POST /api/revalidate, which busts the `posts` cache tag
+# on demand. Needed after a direct-DB seed (`pnpm db:seed:posts`) since that
+# bypasses the Payload hooks that normally call revalidateTag. MUST be set in the
+# Vercel project env for production. Generate with e.g. `openssl rand -hex 32`.
+REVALIDATE_SECRET=YOUR_REVALIDATE_SECRET_HERE
+
 # Note: the automated test suite ignores this file and reads .env.test instead,
 # and only ever runs against a database whose name ends with "_test".
diff --git a/src/app/(frontend)/api/revalidate/route.ts b/src/app/(frontend)/api/revalidate/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..67626fd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/(frontend)/api/revalidate/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+import { revalidatePostsListing } from '@/utilities/documents'
+import { timingSafeEqual } from 'node:crypto'
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
+
+/**
+ * On-demand revalidation endpoint for content written straight to the database
+ * (e.g. `pnpm db:seed:posts`), which bypasses the Payload `afterChange` hooks
+ * that normally call `revalidateTag('posts')`. Because every public post read
+ * goes through the `posts`-tagged `unstable_cache` wrappers in
+ * `src/utilities/posts.ts`, a single `revalidateTag('posts')` here busts the
+ * home page, every listing route, and every article route at once.
+ *
+ * Secured by the `REVALIDATE_SECRET` env var (set it in Vercel for prod). Call:
+ *   curl -X POST "https://<prod-domain>/api/revalidate" \
+ *     -H "x-revalidate-secret: $REVALIDATE_SECRET"
+ */
+
+const SECRET_HEADER = 'x-revalidate-secret'
+
+const isValidSecret = (provided: string | null, expected: string): boolean => {
+  if (!provided) return false
+
+  const providedBuffer = Buffer.from(provided)
+  const expectedBuffer = Buffer.from(expected)
+
+  // `timingSafeEqual` requires equal-length buffers; unequal lengths never match.
+  if (providedBuffer.length !== expectedBuffer.length) return false
+
+  return timingSafeEqual(providedBuffer, expectedBuffer)
+}
+
+export async function POST(request: Request): Promise<NextResponse> {
+  const expected = process.env.REVALIDATE_SECRET
+
+  if (!expected) {
+    return NextResponse.json(
+      { revalidated: false, error: 'REVALIDATE_SECRET is not configured' },
+      { status: 500 },
+    )
+  }
+
+  const provided =
+    request.headers.get(SECRET_HEADER) ??
+    request.headers.get('authorization')?.replace(/^Bearer\s+/i, '') ??
+    null
+
+  if (!isValidSecret(provided, expected)) {
+    return NextResponse.json({ revalidated: false, error: 'Unauthorized' }, { status: 401 })
+  }
+
+  revalidatePostsListing()
+
+  return NextResponse.json({ revalidated: true, tag: 'posts', now: Date.now() })
+}