Dynamic Data Keys

This page will serve as the master doc page for all dynamic data keys. Feel free to bookmark it.

Available Keys

• Templates use this.key.
• Taxonomies use taxonomy.key and term.key.
• Loops use item.key by default (but you control the key).

Key	Description
id	The unique identifier for the item (post, page, etc).
title	The title of the item.
slug	The URL-friendly slug for the item.
content	The main content/body of the item.
excerpt	The summary or excerpt of the item.
permalink.relative	The relative permalink (URL path) to the item (e.g., /blog/my-post).
permalink.full	The full absolute permalink (URL) to the item (e.g., https://site.com/blog/my-post).
image	All image object data (two examples of use below).
image.url	The URL to the image.
image.alt	The image's alt text.
date	The publish date of the item.
modified	The last modified date of the item.
status	The status of the item (e.g., publish, draft).
type	The post type (e.g., post, page, product).
thumbnail	The URL of the thumbnail image for the item.
author	The author object for the item.
author.id	The unique identifier for the author.
author.name	The display name of the author.
template	The template object assigned to the item.
template.slug	The slug of the template.
template.id	The unique identifier for the template.
template.title	The title of the template.
readingTime	The estimated reading time in minutes based on content word count (200 words/min).
post_author	The unique identifier for the author.
post_date	The publish date of the item.
post_date_gmt	The publish date of the item.
post_content	The main content/body of the item.
post_title	The title of the item.
post_excerpt	The summary or excerpt of the item.
post_status	The status of the item (e.g., publish, draft).
comment_status	The status for comments (e.g., open, closed).
ping_status	The ping stauts of the item (e.g., open, closed).
post_password	The items's password.
post_name	The URL-friendly slug for the item.
to_ping	URLs queued to be pinged.
pinged	URLs that have been pinged.
post_modified	The modified date of the item.
post_modified_gmt	The modified date of the item.
guid	The GUID of the item.
menu_order	The menu order of the item.
post_type	The post type (e.g., post, page, product).
post_mime_type	The mime type of attachment item.
post_parent	The ID of a post's parent post.
comment_count	The total of comments for the item.

User Keys

Key	Description
user	The user object for the current user.
user.id	The unique identifier for the user.
user.login	The username/login of the user.
user.email	The email address of the user.
user.displayName	The display name of the user.
user.firstName	The first name of the user.
user.lastName	The last name of the user.
user.nickname	The nickname of the user.
user.fullName	The full name of the user (first + last).
user.description	The biographical description of the user.
user.userUrl	The website URL of the user.
user.avatar	The URL of the user's avatar image.
user.registered	The registration date of the user.
user.userRoles	Array of all roles assigned to the user.
user.userRole	The primary role of the user (first role in the array).
user.capabilities	The capabilities/permissions of the user.
user.loggedIn	Whether the user is currently logged in (boolean).

Site Keys

Key	Description
site.name	The site name/title.
site.description	The site tagline/description.
site.home_url	The home URL of the site.
site.url	The site URL.
site.version	The WordPress version.
site.language	The site language code.
site.isMultisite	Whether the site is part of a multisite network (boolean).
site.currentDate	References the current date. Is returned as a unix timestamp.

Options Keys

The options key provides access to global site options configured via options pages. These values are available everywhere (pages, templates, loops, headers/footers, etc.).

For up-to-date integrations, namespaces, and scoping patterns, see the Options Pages documentation. It covers:

• Which integrations are currently supported.
• The required namespace for each integration (e.g., acf, metabox, jetengine).
• Integration-specific syntax (for example, Meta Box requiring a option page name: options.metabox.option_page_name.field_name).

Notes

• Requires an Options Page created in the integration plugin.
• Keys resolve globally; no post context is required.

URL Keys

Key	Description
url.full	The current full URL of the page.
url.relative	The relative path portion of the current URL.
url.parameter	The URL parameters/query string of the current page.

url.parameter allows you to reference the value of any parameter key in the url string, which can be very helpful for personalizing page content by injecting content or creating conditions.

For example, if you have a URL of /thank-you/?firstName=John, you can use {url.parameter.firstName} to output John.

For security, all URL parameters are automatically sanitized using WordPress's sanitize_text_field() function to prevent XSS attacks.

tip

This key is case sensitive. If you have a parameter of Name in your URL, you need to use {url.parameter.Name}, not {url.parameter.name}

Etch Custom Fields Support

Custom fields created within Etch can be accessed with the etch extension.

For example, item.etch.field_id in a loop or this.etch.field_id in a template.

Generic Meta Field Support

Custom fields registered to WordPress can be accessed with the meta extension.

For example, item.meta.field_id in a loop or this.meta.field_id in a template.

Third-Party Custom Fields

Etch integrates with third-party custom field solutions like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF).

For detailed information on working with third-party custom fields, see the Custom Fields section in Integrations.

Custom Integration

Etch allows you to extend Dynamic Data through filter hooks. This way, all main keys (post, user, term, and options) can be extended.

Tips for Working with Dynamic Data

• Not all keys are available for every item type. Availability depends on the context (e.g., posts, pages, custom post types).

  • Use the Loop Manager (or just output {this} on the page/template) to view the data available for the the post type you are working with. This will show the full JSON object for the item in question, which can be helpful for understanding what data is available.

• Some keys output the data directly (e.g., {item.title}, {this.content}, etc). If your key outputs a string, you can use it directly in your page or template.

• Some keys are objects (e.g., author, template). These are inside of curly braces {}. If your key outputs an object, you need to drill down to a sub-key (e.g., {item.author.name}, {this.template.slug) to get to the data you're looking for.

• Some object keys contain special characters (spaces, dashes, etc.) that don't work with dot notation. For these cases, you can use bracket notation with quotes:

  • Keys with spaces: {item["full name"]}

  • Keys with dashes: {item["post-meta"]}

  • Keys with underscores: {this.acf_field} or {item["custom_value"]}

  • Keys with numbers: {item[0]} (for arrays)

    Examples:

  • {this["page title"]} - Access a key with spaces

  • {item["author-info"]["email"]} - Nested keys with dashes

  • {this.categories[0].name} - Mix dot and bracket notation

  • {item["users"][0]["display-name"]} - Multiple bracket notations

  You can also use single quotes: {item['full name']} works the same as {item["full name"]}

• Some keys are arrays (e.g., categories, tags). These are inside of square brackets []. If your key outputs an array, you can {#loop} through it or access a specific item by index (e.g., {this.categories.at(0).name}). See the Accessing Data in Arrays section below for more information.

• If you want to output curly braces ({ and }) without the dynamic data engine interpreting them, you can do so by adding them as a separate string inside the dynamic expression. For example: {"{This will be output as is}"}

Accessing Data in Arrays

Some dynamic data keys return arrays (for example, categories, tags, etc). You can work with these arrays in two common ways:

1) Loop through the items

• Create a loop that returns the array items you want to render, then output each item’s fields.

Example: Loop categories for the current post:

{#loop categories as category}
<span>{category.name}</span>
{/loop}

2) Access a specific item by index (zero-based)

You can use either dot notation with the .at() modifier or bracket notation to access a specific item:

Dot notation (using .at() modifier):

{this.categories.at(0).name}

Bracket notation (direct array access):

{this.categories[0].name}

Both approaches are equivalent. Continue using dot notation for simple property names (e.g., {this.title}, {item.name}). Use bracket notation only when needed for properties with special characters or spaces (e.g., {this["author-name"]}, {item["full name"]}).

info

We've updated the syntax to align with standard JavaScript and PHP conventions. Bracket notation is now available as an option for properties with special characters or spaces. Aligning with industry standards allows us to extend the functionality of dynamic data even further and will make it possible to add support for advanced features like mathematical operations in the future. The "old" syntax (dashes/spaces in dot notation) will no longer be supported, but standard dot notation like {this.title} remains unchanged and is the recommended approach for regular property names.

Notes:

• Indexing is zero-based (0 is the first item, 1 is the second, etc.).
• It is possible to get the last item with -1, or the second to last item with -2 and so on.
• Ensure the array and the requested index exist before using them (e.g., a post may have no categories).