This TYPO3 extension adds recurring, time-based visibility windows to content elements. Unlike TYPO3's built-in start/endtime (which is a one-time date range), in2frequently uses cron-style expressions to define repeating visibility patterns — for example: show this content element every month from the 1st to the 15th, or show it every Friday afternoon until Monday morning.
The extension is built on natural language cron expressions and integrates transparently into the existing TYPO3 access palette in the backend.
Example integration in backend
Each content element can optionally be extended with three fields in the Recurring Visibility palette:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | Enables recurring visibility control for this element |
| Visible from (date expression) | Cron expression defining when the visibility window opens |
| Visible until (date expression) | Cron expression defining when the visibility window closes |
At render time, the extension compares the current timestamp against the most recent and next occurrence of both expressions:
- The content element is visible if the last start event is more recent than the last stop event (i.e. a window was opened and has not yet been closed)
- The content element is hidden otherwise
Both fields accept natural language expressions (see Expression Syntax below). Leaving a field empty disables that side of the restriction.
composer req in2code/in2frequently
No further configuration is required. The extension registers its event listeners and middleware
automatically via Services.yaml and RequestMiddlewares.php.
The Recurring Visibility palette is injected into the access tab of every content element type automatically. It appears directly after the standard TYPO3 access palette.
Enable the toggle to reveal the two expression fields. A preview wizard shows the next three upcoming dates for each expression as you type, along with the resolved cron string — making it easy to verify the expression before saving.
Expressions follow the natural language format provided by bentools/natural-cron-expression. The
following patterns are supported:
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
every day |
Daily at midnight (00:00) |
every day at 3 AM |
Daily at 03:00 |
every 1st |
1st of every month at midnight |
every 15th |
15th of every month at midnight |
every 27th |
27th of every month at midnight |
every 27th midnight |
27th of every month at 00:00 |
every 1st at 8am |
1st of every month at 08:00 |
every 15th at 8am |
15th of every month at 08:00 |
every friday at 17:00 |
Every Friday at 17:00 |
Standard cron syntax (e.g. 0 8 1 * *) is also accepted.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Visible from | every 1st |
| Visible until | every 15th |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Visible from | every friday at 17:00 |
| Visible until | every monday |
The extension ships a PSR-15 middleware (FrequentlyCacheMiddleware) that restricts the frontend page
cache lifetime to the timestamp of the next visibility change. This ensures that content transitions
(element appearing or disappearing) are reflected on the live site without manual cache clearing.
The middleware runs after staticfilecache/generate, so lochmueller/staticfilecache is fully
supported. When staticfilecache is installed, it is recommended to require it:
composer req lochmueller/staticfilecache
The extension ships a DDEV configuration for a self-contained local TYPO3 environment. It sets up a full TYPO3 13.4 instance with a demo page and a content element so you can test the extension immediately after initialization.
- DDEV installed
- Docker running
ddev start
ddev initializeddev initialize installs Composer dependencies, runs the TYPO3 setup wizard, applies the DDEV
configuration, imports the demo database content, and flushes caches. It takes about a minute.
After initialization:
| URL | |
|---|---|
| Backend | https://in2frequently.ddev.site/typo3 |
| Frontend demo page | https://in2frequently.ddev.site/example |
| Login | admin / admin |
ddev start # start containers
ddev stop # stop containers
ddev typo3 cache:flush # flush TYPO3 cache
ddev typo3 database:updateschema # apply DB schema changes after TCA editsAfter making content changes in the backend that should be shared with other developers, export the database and commit the result:
ddev createdumpfile # exports to .ddev/data/demo.sql
git add .ddev/data/demo.sql| Version | Date | State | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1.0 | 2026-03-25 | Feature | Add a status badge if the content element is visible or not |
| 2.0.1 | 2026-03-25 | Bugfix | Fix problem with not available dates like "every 30th" even if there is no 30th in february |
| 2.0.0 | 2026-03-25 | Task | Add a local environment for better contribution (DDEV), support cron strings now |
| 1.0.0 | 2026-03-11 | Task | Initial release |