How to build a ticket booking system in Bubble

A Bubble ticket‑booking system is built by creating a Ticket data type, showing available tickets on a page, and running a backend workflow that reserves a ticket (changes its status) the moment a user clicks “Book,” making sure that no two users can book the same ticket at the same time.

Core Structure

You need three key things: a data structure that prevents double bookings, a booking workflow that runs in the backend, and clear logic on the page so users only see available tickets.

• Event (name, date, location)
• Ticket (event, seat number, status text: available / reserved / sold)
• Booking (ticket, user, timestamp)

How to Display Available Tickets

Use a Repeating Group with its Data Source set to: Search for Tickets with constraint status = "available". This guarantees users only see tickets not taken by someone else.

• Inside each cell, place a “Book” button and pass Current cell’s Ticket.

Preventing Double Bookings

This is the most important part. Use a backend workflow (API Workflow) because backend workflows run atomically — meaning Bubble processes them one-by-one, preventing race conditions.

• Create a backend workflow called reserve\_ticket with a parameter ticket (type Ticket).
• First action: Make changes to thing → ticket only when ticket’s status is "available". Change to "reserved".
• Second action: Create Booking and attach the ticket + Current User.

Triggering the Booking

On the page, on the Book button click, run:

• Schedule API Workflow → workflow: reserve\_ticket → ticket = Current cell’s Ticket.
• Send user to confirmation page after scheduling.

// Example parameter when scheduling the workflow
ticket = Current cell's Ticket

Optional: Auto‑Release Unpaid Reservations

If you use Stripe Checkout, trigger a backend webhook to mark the ticket as sold. If payment fails or times out, run a workflow that sets the ticket back to available.

• Webhook: Stripe → Bubble Endpoint → Change Ticket status to “sold”.
• Fail case: scheduled workflow after X minutes → if still reserved, change back to available.