Filter catalog items by date range

This example shows how a fictional ticket marketplace uses catalog selections and Liquid date expressions to email consumers only events that are upcoming within the next seven days from send time. You create a selection with rolling time filters, then render the matching catalog items in a campaign or Canvas message.

About this example

MovieCanon, a fictional ticket marketplace, uses this pattern to ensure email campaigns list only time-relevant concerts and shows.

The pattern uses two Braze features together:

• A catalog selection with time field filters whose values are Liquid snippets that compute a rolling time window at send time
• The {% catalog_selection_items %} Liquid tag in the message body to render matching catalog rows

Considerations

• Create a catalog time field for the datetime column you filter on, not a string field. Store values in ISO 8601 format, such as 2026-06-20T19:30:00Z. For supported types, see Supported data types.
• The before and after operators use strict comparisons. Events exactly equal to a bound timestamp may be excluded. Use full timestamps when you need the window to start at send time. Date-only YYYY-MM-DD values coerce to midnight UTC on that day.
• Liquid in selection filters is evaluated at send time. The 'now' variable reflects when the message is rendered, typically in UTC. Confirm the resulting window matches your intent across time zones.
• Connected Content, Content Blocks, catalog tags, and abort_message are not supported in catalog selection filter values. If a filter includes a disallowed tag, the selection returns no items without raising an error.
• You can add up to 10 filters per selection and return up to 50 items. Adjust the seven-day window by changing the seconds added to 'now' (604800 = 7 days multiplied by 86400 seconds per day).
• Catalog selection result arrays are zero-indexed (items[0] is the first item).
• Test filter Liquid, message Liquid, and abort logic outside your production workspace before sending to production audiences.

Setup

This example assumes a catalog named live_events with these fields:

If you don’t have a similar catalog yet, create a catalog and upload or sync your event data first.

Step 1: Create the catalog selection

1. Go to Data Settings > Catalogs and select the live_events catalog.
2. Open the Selection tab and select Create Selection.
3. Name the selection seven_day_window and add an optional description, such as “Events occurring within the next seven days.”
4. Set a Results limit for the maximum number of events to return (up to 50).
5. Don’t save yet. Add the date filters in the next steps.

Step 2: Add the upper-bound filter

Add a filter on the event_date_time field:

In the filter value field, enter this Liquid snippet. It calculates a timestamp seven days from send time:

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{% assign seven_days = 'now' | date: '%s' | plus: 604800 %}{{ seven_days | date: "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" }}

This sets the upper bound of the window so only events before that timestamp are included.

Step 3: Add the lower-bound filter

Add a second filter on the same field:

Enter this Liquid snippet for the lower bound. It uses the current send time so events that have already started are excluded:

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{{ 'now' | date: "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" }}

Together, the two filters return catalog items where event_date_time is after the current send time and before seven days from send time. Select Create Selection to save.

Step 4: Reference the selection in a message

In your campaign or Canvas message, insert Liquid that pulls items from the selection. You can use Add personalization (Catalog Items > Use a selection) or paste the tag manually:

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{% catalog_selection_items live_events seven_day_window %}
Here are some upcoming events:

{{ items[0].event_name }} — ${{ items[0].ticket_price }}
{{ items[0].city }} · {{ items[0].venue }}

{{ items[1].event_name }} — ${{ items[1].ticket_price }}
{{ items[1].city }} · {{ items[1].venue }}

Replace hard-coded array indexes with a loop if you need to render a variable number of results.

Step 5: Handle empty results

When no catalog items match the selection, the items array is empty and the tagged block renders nothing. To skip the send or show fallback copy, wrap the tag in a conditional:

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{% catalog_selection_items live_events seven_day_window %}
{% if items.size == 0 %}
{% abort_message('Catalog selection returned 0 items') %}
{% endif %}

Here are some upcoming events:
{{ items[0].event_name }}

For more information, see Aborting messages.

Related articles

• Create a catalog
• Selections
• Using catalogs in campaigns
• Liquid date filter
• Liquid use case library