Ghost: Complete product feature map

Ghost is a professional publishing platform built on Node.js, offering a fully integrated stack for content creation, membership monetization, email newsletters, and social web distribution. As of February 2026 (v6.19.3), the platform encompasses 20+ feature domains spanning editor, memberships, email, themes, APIs, analytics, ActivityPub federation, and more. What follows is an exhaustive map of every capability Ghost offers today, organized to show how features relate across the system.

1. Publishing & editor

Ghost's editor (Koenig) is built on React + Meta's Lexical framework, storing content as Lexical JSON. It replaced the legacy Ember/Mobiledoc editor during the Ghost 5.x cycle. Ghost is the first independent company outside Meta to build a production editor on Lexical.

Core editor

Rich visual editor — WYSIWYG with invisible-until-needed UI; inline formatting (bold, italic, headings H1–H6, lists, links, blockquotes, code)
Inline Markdown parsing — Markdown syntax auto-converts as you type
Card system — Dynamic content blocks inserted via + button or / slash command menu
Drag and drop — Reorder any card/block by dragging
Keyboard shortcuts — Full OS-aware shortcut support for all formatting and actions
Undo/redo chaining — Smooth multi-step undo/redo
Emoji autocomplete — Type : to search and insert emoji
TK reminders — Flag placeholder text ("TK") to prevent publishing incomplete content
Internal linking — Type @ to search and link to own posts, pages, tags, authors inline
Snippets — Save any combination of cards/content as a reusable block; available to all staff
Post history — Last ~10 revisions stored; browse who edited what and when; one-click restore
Post preview — Live preview for desktop, mobile, email, and social; preview as public visitor, free member, or paid member
Shareable preview URL — Unique URL for sharing unpublished drafts with external reviewers
Test email — Send test newsletter to yourself before publishing
Quick edit via URL — Append /edit to any published post URL to jump to editor
Ghost Bookmarker — Chrome extension to save any webpage into a Ghost draft post
Nested lists — Bulleted and numbered list nesting
Native image editing — Crop, resize, annotate, apply filters inline (Pintura integration)

Editor cards (20+ card types)

Image — Upload, drag-drop, paste, or insert via URL; captions; alt text; lossless compression; responsive optimization; JPEG/PNG/GIF/WEBP; multiple width options
Gallery — Up to 9 images; responsive layout; drag-and-drop reorder
Markdown — Full Markdown editing card with footnote support
HTML — Raw HTML injection per-card; per-card visibility targeting (public/free/paid)
Divider — Horizontal rule separator; shortcut ---
Bookmark — Rich link preview (title, description, thumbnail); auto-generates from pasted URL
Email content — Newsletter-only content block; supports {first_name} with custom fallback; hidden on web
Call to action (CTA) — Image, optional sponsor label, button with custom URL; customizable background color, button style, link color, image layout; visibility targeting (public/free/paid + web/email/both)
Public preview / Paywall — Paywall divider; shortcut /paywall; marks where free content ends
Button — CTA button; center or left-aligned; custom text and URL
Callout — Styled info box with emoji, formatted text, custom background color
GIF — Built-in Tenor search and insert
Toggle — Collapsible/expandable accordion; custom header; supports formatting
Audio — Direct upload up to 1 GB; MP3/WAV/OGG; thumbnail, title display
Video — Direct upload up to 1 GB; MP4/WebM/OGG; loop setting, custom thumbnail, three width options
File — Downloadable file attachment; any type; up to 1 GB; custom name and caption
Product — Product card with image, description, button or star rating
Header — Full-width hero section; multiple layouts; custom images, headings, subheadings, CTAs; stackable for landing pages
Signup — Inline signup form within content; customizable layout, alignment, colors, button text; member label tracking; only shown to non-members
Embed — Auto-embed via URL paste (YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Twitter/X, Vimeo, CodePen, etc.) via oEmbed; also accessible from card menu
Unsplash integration — Search and insert free stock photos directly from the editor

Content types

Posts — Standard blog content; appears in feeds, tag archives, author pages, homepage
Pages — Static pages; same editor; excluded from feeds/tag collections/homepage
Landing pages — Pages with title/feature image toggled off; built using header + signup cards
Email-only posts — Send as newsletter without publishing to website
Notes — Short-form microblog posts published to the social web (ActivityPub only, not on theme)

Custom URL slug — Auto-generated or manually customized
Custom excerpt — Manual snippet for theme index pages and social sharing
Feature image — Hero image with alt text
Publish date — Configurable; uses publication timezone
Tags — Multiple tags per post; create new inline
Authors — Multiple authors per post
Post access — Public, Members only, Paid-members only, Specific tier(s)
Featured toggle — Flags post for special theme styling/carousels
Custom template — Select per-post template (if theme provides custom templates)
Meta data — Custom meta title and description with character guidance
Canonical URL — Override automatic canonical; auto-excludes from sitemap when set
X (Twitter) card — Custom title, description, image for Twitter sharing
Facebook Open Graph — Custom title, description, image for Facebook sharing
Per-post code injection — Custom header/footer scripts and styles per post

Publishing modes

Publish and email — Publish to site + send newsletter simultaneously
Publish only — Publish to website without sending email
Email only — Send newsletter without publishing to website
Schedule — Schedule posts for future date/time publication
Custom email subject — Override post title for newsletter subject line
Audience segmentation at send — Target by newsletter subscription, access level, or member labels
Delivery confirmation — Summary screen showing targets and recipient count before sending
Post-publish share step — Confirmation dialog with immediate sharing actions after publish/send
Post-publish analytics handoff — Direct handoff to post analytics screen to monitor early performance

Content storage

Lexical JSON — Current storage format; JSON tree structure
Mobiledoc JSON — Legacy format; old posts remain in mobiledoc unless re-edited
HTML rendering — Server-side via kg-lexical-html-renderer for web and email (table-based for email)

2. Membership & subscriptions

Member authentication

Magic link signin — Passwordless; members receive email with login link
One-time codes — Secure code-based signin as alternative to magic links (shipped Oct 2025)
Inbox links — After magic-link signup, auto-detects email provider and links directly to inbox with pre-filtered search (shipped Feb 2026)
Session-based auth — Member sessions managed via cookies
Portal UI — Handles all signup/signin flows (see Portal section)

Open signup — Anyone can sign up
Invite-only — Only people you invite can become members
Disabled — Memberships turned off entirely
Double opt-in — Confirmation email required for all new signups
Custom signup notice — Custom text/links (terms of service, community guidelines) at signup
Require agreement checkbox — Force checkbox agreement before signup
Signup spam protection — Built-in filtering against bot/SMS-based spam signups (shipped Feb 2025)
Email domain blocking — Block signups from specific email domains
Member labels on signup — Auto-apply labels from signup forms, embeds, or API

Free memberships

Free tier — Default tier; configurable name, description, welcome page
Benefits list — Display free tier benefits in Portal

Paid subscriptions

Stripe integration — Direct native Stripe connection; 0% Ghost transaction fees
Multiple premium tiers — Up to 3 (Publisher), 10 (Business), unlimited (Custom/self-hosted)
Per-tier pricing — Independent monthly and yearly prices per tier
Per-tier configuration — Custom name, description, benefits list, welcome page URL
135+ currencies — Accept payments in any Stripe-supported currency
Payment methods — Credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, CashApp, iDEAL, Bancontact, and more via Stripe
Free trials — Configurable trial duration per tier; auto-converts to paid after expiry; members can cancel during trial
Complimentary plans — Grant free paid-tier access to specific members
Automatic sales tax — Stripe Tax integration for automated tax compliance
Stripe test mode — Test payments before going live

Tips & donations

One-time payments — Accept tips from members and non-members; no membership required
Configurable suggested amount — Default tip amount and currency
Shareable payment link — Usable in buttons, headers, CTAs, navigation, newsletters
Email notifications — Owner/admins notified when tip received
Shipped September 2024

Offers & discounts

Percentage discounts — e.g., 30% off
Fixed amount discounts — e.g., $5 off
Duration control — Once, multiple months (repeating), or forever
Free trial offers — Custom trial duration offers
Custom messaging — Name, description, custom display code per offer
Unique shareable URLs — Each offer has a unique URL; Portal displays on visit
Offer analytics — Track redemption count
Archive/reactivate — Archive and restore offers at any time
Limit counts — Up to 15 (Publisher), 50 (Business), unlimited (Custom)

Member management

Member dashboard — Centralized view with search
Advanced filtering — Filter by: name, email, label, newsletter subscription, last seen, created date, signed up on post/page, newsletter events (subscribed/unsubscribed/disabled), tier, status (free/paid/comped), billing period (monthly/yearly), Stripe subscription status, paid start date, next billing date, emails sent/opened/clicked, open rate, feedback
Saved views — Save filtered segments for quick access
Bulk actions — Export, apply/remove labels, unsubscribe from email, bulk delete
Bulk delete — Delete filtered segments; auto-backup download before deletion; no effect on Stripe subscriptions
Member profiles — Name, email, notes, activity feed, email stats, average open rate, newsletter preferences, labels, Stripe customer link, signup source
Member labels — Custom tags for segmentation; assignable manually, via CSV import, embeddable forms, theme forms, API, or Zapier
Member impersonation — View site as a specific member to troubleshoot access
Force logout — Staff can revoke active member sessions to sign members out of all devices
CSV import — Import members with: email (required), name, note, subscribed_to_emails, complimentary_plan, stripe_customer_id (supports auto Stripe lookup), created_at, labels
CSV export — Full member list with all metadata
Signup attribution — Tracks referral source at signup (search, social, referral, direct, specific content, campaigns)
Custom sources — Track via ref, source, or utm_source query parameters

Welcome flows

Welcome emails — Automated separate emails for free and paid signups; customizable subject and content (shipped Feb 2026; described as "first step toward automation suite")
Welcome pages — Custom redirect URL after email confirmation; configurable per tier

Multiple newsletters — Independent subscriptions, settings, and designs per newsletter; 1 (Starter), 3 (Publisher), 10 (Business), unlimited (Custom/self-hosted)
Newsletter toggle — Enable/disable sending globally
Auto-subscribe existing members — Option when creating new newsletters
Archive newsletters — Remove from member options and publishing menu
Member newsletter preferences — Members choose which newsletters to subscribe to via Portal
Unlimited email sends — No per-email charges on any plan

Sender name — Custom "from" name (defaults to site title)
Reply-to email — Configurable reply-to address
Publication title visibility — Show/hide in header
Newsletter name display — Show under publication title (useful for multi-newsletter)
Post title/excerpt/feature image — Toggle visibility in newsletter header
Background color — Full email background
Header background color — Separate color for top section
Heading and body fonts — Choose typography
Heading weight — Bold or light
Post title color and alignment — Customize title area
Section title color — Color for headings within content
Button customization — Corner style (square/rounded/pill), appearance (filled/outline), color
Link styling — Custom color, style (underlined/regular/bold)
Image corners — Rounded or square
Divider color — Custom horizontal line color
Footer customization — Audience feedback, commenting link, latest posts, subscription details, custom text/legal info
"Published with Ghost" badge — Toggle on/off
Subtitles — Add subtitle to email version of posts
Shipped as major upgrade June 2025

Email delivery

Managed deliverability — Professional infrastructure, bounce management, reputation monitoring (Ghost(Pro))
Custom sending domain — Send from your own domain with DKIM/SPF authentication (Publisher+)
Dedicated IP — Custom plan only
Automatic list cleaning — Auto-disables bounced/spam-reporting addresses
Automatic unsubscribe link — Included in all emails
Segment targeting — Send to any combination of newsletter subscription, access level, labels
Email clipping warnings — Tracks newsletter file size; warns if Gmail will clip content (shipped Jan 2026)
Self-hosted email — Requires Mailgun for bulk sending; configurable SMTP for transactional

Post-send capabilities

Edit links after sending — Update/correct URLs in already-sent newsletters via link tracking redirect
Link tracking — All links rewritten through Ghost's tracking system; enables click analytics and post-send link updates

Audience feedback

Inline feedback buttons — "More like this" / "Less like this" in newsletter footer
Feedback analytics — View breakdown per post

Email notifications (for publishers)

New member signup alerts — Email notifications when members sign up
Paid conversion alerts — Notifications on upgrades
Tip received alerts — Notifications when tips/donations arrive

4. Themes & design

Theme system

Handlebars templating — Server-side rendered; separation of templates and logic
Theme upload — Install custom .zip theme files
Theme marketplace — Hundreds of community and official themes
Official themes — Source (news/default), Solo (individual creators), Taste (food), Episode (podcast), plus newsletter-focused themes (Journal, Digest, Bulletin)
Theme download — Export active theme as .zip
Auto-update official themes — Unmodified official themes can update in admin
GScan validation — Theme compatibility checker (CLI tool + validates on upload)
GitHub Action deployment — TryGhost/action-deploy-theme@v1 for CI/CD theme deployment
VS Code extension — Syntax highlighting and live preview for theme development

Template hierarchy

default.hbs — Base layout (header, footer)
index.hbs — Homepage / post list (required)
post.hbs — Single post (required)
page.hbs — Static pages
tag.hbs — Tag archive
author.hbs — Author archive
error.hbs — Error pages
custom-*.hbs — Custom per-post/page templates (exposed as dropdown in post settings)
package.json — Theme metadata, engine version, custom settings (required)
/partials/ — Reusable template fragments; inherit context; support named properties
/assets/ — Static content (CSS, JS, fonts, images)

Handlebars helpers

Functional helpers:

{{#foreach}} — Context-aware iteration with @index, @number, @first, @last, @odd, @even, limit, from, to
{{#get}} — Fetch data from Content API within templates (posts, tags, authors, tiers, newsletters)
{{#has}} — Check properties (tag, author, slug, number, any, all)
{{#if}} / {{#unless}} — Conditionals
{{#is}} — Check route context (home, post, page, tag, author, paged, private)
{{#match}} — Pattern matching on values

Output helpers:

{{url}} — Generate URLs
{{content}} — Post/page content
{{excerpt}} — Excerpt with word/character limit
{{date}} — Date formatting
{{tags}} — Tag list output
{{authors}} — Author list output
{{img_url}} — Image URL with dynamic size options
{{reading_time}} — Estimated reading time
{{pagination}} — Pagination controls
{{navigation}} — Site navigation
{{price}} — Format monetary values from Stripe
{{tiers}} — Membership tier display
{{total_members}} / {{total_paid_members}} — Member counts
{{t}} / {{translate}} — i18n translation
{{search}} — Search button/modal output
{{cancel_link}} — Cancel/continue subscription links
{{prev_post}} / {{next_post}} — Adjacent post navigation
{{plural}} — Pluralize strings
{{encode}} — URL-encode strings
{{concat}} — String concatenation
{{split}} — String splitting
{{link_class}} — Active class for navigation links
{{log}} — Debug logging

Meta/structural helpers:

{{ghost_head}} — Head metadata, SEO, structured data, custom fonts, scripts
{{ghost_foot}} — Footer scripts
{{body_class}} — Dynamic CSS classes for body tag
{{post_class}} — Dynamic CSS classes for posts
{{asset}} — Theme asset references with cache-busting
{{block}} — Define/use content blocks between templates

Data variables:

@site — Site-wide settings (title, description, logo, url, navigation, etc.)
@member — Current logged-in member data and subscriptions
@labs — Feature flags
@custom — Custom theme settings

Custom theme settings

Defined in package.json under config.custom
5 types: select, boolean, color, image, text
Max 20 settings per theme; 3 groups: site-wide, homepage, post
Accessed via @custom object (e.g., @custom.typography)
Conditional visibility between settings using NQL syntax
Description support (max 100 chars)

Design settings (admin UI, no code)

Accent color — Primary color for links, buttons, text
Publication icon (favicon) — Square, min 60×60px
Publication logo — Transparent background recommended
Cover image — Site-wide banner
Site description — Tagline displayed in theme
Custom fonts — Curated typeface selection; loads via {{ghost_head}} as CSS variables (--gh-font-heading, --gh-font-body); shipped Dec 2024

Code injection

Site-wide header/footer — Custom CSS/JS via Settings → Code injection
Per-post header/footer — Custom CSS/JS per individual post
Integration scripts — Paste tracking, analytics, or third-party tool scripts

Image handling

Auto lossless compression — On upload
Responsive images — Auto-generates multiple sizes (up to 2000px max, JPEG 80% quality)
Original preservation — Originals kept with _o suffix
Dynamic sizing — Via {{img_url}} helper in themes
Supported formats — JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP
Metadata removal — EXIF data stripped on optimization

5. Content management

Content organization

Content filters — Filter by draft, published, featured, scheduled, tag, author, access level
Saved views — Save filtered content lists for quick access
Bulk editing — Multi-select; bulk add/remove tags, change access, toggle featured, unpublish, delete
Post duplication — Clone posts (content, images, settings copied)
Featured posts — Flag for special theme treatment/carousels

Collections (via routes.yaml)

YAML-defined post groups — Group posts by filter criteria (tags, authors, featured, dates) under custom URL routes
Exclusive ownership — A post belongs to only one collection (unlike tags which are non-exclusive)
Custom permalinks — Per-collection permalink patterns (e.g., /{slug}/, /{year}/{slug}/)
Custom templates — Per-collection template assignment
Default collection — Root / with /{slug}/ permalinks
Not a UI feature in Ghost Admin — configured via routes.yaml

Primary navigation — Main site menu
Secondary navigation — Footer/secondary menu
Custom links — Any URL including tag archives, pages, external links, Portal links

Redirects

URL redirects — Via redirects.yaml or redirects.json file upload in admin
301/302 support — Permanent and temporary redirects
Regex patterns — Supported in redirect rules

6. SEO & metadata

Automatic metadata — Auto-generated from post content if not customized
Custom meta title/description — Per post, page, tag, and site-wide
XML sitemap — Auto-generated and auto-updated; posts with canonical URLs excluded
Canonical tags — Automatic across site; customizable per post
Structured data (JSON-LD) — Automatic on all posts and pages
Twitter Cards — Built-in meta tags; customizable per post
Open Graph tags — Built-in Facebook/social meta; customizable per post
Social account settings — Site-level Facebook and X/Twitter account links
Clean URLs — Human-readable slugs
robots.txt — Customizable via theme
Referrer policy — Configurable (origin-when-crossorigin default)
Performance — Node.js backend; static-site-equivalent speed; serves ~19× faster than WordPress under load
AMP — Deprecated and removed in Ghost 6.0

7. Integrations

Native integrations

Unsplash — Free stock photo search in editor
Tenor/GIPHY — GIF search in editor
Stripe — Payment processing for memberships and tips
Slack — Auto-post notifications when content published
Tinybird — Powers native analytics (Ghost(Pro) included; self-hosters bring own key)

Embed support (oEmbed)

YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, SoundCloud, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, CodePen, and any oEmbed-compatible service

Third-party integrations (documented)

Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom (analytics)
Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Drip, EmailOctopus, HubSpot (email/CRM sync)
Discourse, Cove Comments (community)
Buffer (social scheduling)
HelpScout, Intercom (support)
Airtable, Geckoboard, ChartMogul (business intelligence)
First Promoter (referral program)
Google AdSense, BuySellAds (advertising)
iA Writer, Ulysses (writing tools)
Netlify, GitHub (deployment)
Tally (forms)
Imgur (image hosting)
Udesly (Webflow-to-Ghost)

Automation platforms

Zapier — 5,000+ app connections; native Ghost triggers (member created/updated, post published, page published)
n8n — Open-source workflow automation with 1,000+ services
Pipedream — Developer-focused workflow automation
Make (Integromat) — Visual automation builder

Custom integrations

Created in Settings → Integrations
Each integration gets: Content API key, Admin API key, webhook configuration
Named integrations for organizational clarity

8. APIs

Content API (public, read-only)

Base URL: https://{domain}/ghost/api/content/
Authentication: API key via ?key={key} query parameter
Endpoints: GET /posts/, /pages/, /tags/, /authors/, /tiers/, /newsletters/, /settings/
Read by ID or slug: /posts/{id}/, /posts/slug/{slug}/
Parameters: include (related data), fields (select), filter (NQL), limit (max 100), page, order, formats (html, plaintext)
Filtering: NQL (Node Query Language) — filter by tags, authors, any property; complex expressions
Pagination: Default 15 per page; max 100; meta.pagination in response; ?limit=all removed in Ghost 6.0
Versioning: Accept-Version header (e.g., v6.0)
Fully cacheable — No rate limiting documented
SDK: @tryghost/content-api (JavaScript; npm/yarn; also UMD standalone)

Admin API (private, read-write)

Base URL: https://{domain}/ghost/api/admin/
Resources: posts, pages, tags, tiers, newsletters, offers, members, users, images, themes, site, webhooks, labels, integrations, settings
Full CRUD: Browse, Read, Add, Edit, Copy, Delete on supported resources
Authentication methods:
1. Integration tokens — JWT-based; Admin API key in id:secret format; generate short-lived JWTs (max 5 min); Authorization: Ghost $token header
2. Staff access tokens — Per-user tokens from profile page; same JWT mechanism; role-based permissions
3. User authentication — Email + password → session cookie; supports 2FA device verification
CSRF protection — Origin/Referer header validation for session auth
SDK: @tryghost/admin-api (JavaScript; handles JWT generation automatically)

Webhooks

31 event types across 5 categories:
- Posts: added, deleted, edited, published, published.edited, unpublished, scheduled, unscheduled, rescheduled
- Pages: added, deleted, edited, published, published.edited, unpublished, scheduled, unscheduled, rescheduled
- Tags: added, edited, deleted, post.tag.attached, post.tag.detached, page.tag.attached, page.tag.detached
- Members: added, edited, deleted
- Site: site.changed (any content/settings change)
Configuration: Via custom integrations in admin; POST requests with JSON body; 2xx = success
Stripe webhooks: Endpoint at /members/webhooks/stripe/ for payment events

Additional SDKs & tools

@tryghost/helpers — JavaScript helpers (tags, readingTime) for headless implementations
@tryghost/string — String utilities (slugify with transliteration)
API demos — TryGhost/api-demos repository with Content and Admin API examples
llms.txt — Developer docs include llms.txt for AI/LLM tool integration

Headless CMS usage

Supported frameworks: Next.js, Gatsby, Nuxt, Hexo, VuePress, Gridsome, Eleventy, custom
Membership features NOT compatible with headless (requires Ghost frontend for Portal)
Must re-implement: tag/author archives, sitemap, SEO meta, Open Graph, pagination, code injection

9. Admin & settings

Ghost Admin (web app)

Legacy: Ember.js application (ghost/admin)
New modules (Admin-X): React + Tailwind CSS; gradually replacing Ember; admin-x-settings, admin-x-framework, admin-x-design-system
Refreshed settings interface — Browse all settings at a glance with built-in search (shipped 2024)

Staff roles & permissions (5 roles)

Owner — Single per site; cannot be deleted; can transfer ownership; full access
Administrator — Full access to all settings, staff, and content
Editor — Manage and publish all posts; manage tags
Author — Create, edit, and publish own posts
Contributor — Create and edit own drafts only; cannot publish (does not count toward plan limits)
Suspended — Login blocked; profile and content retained (does not count toward limits)

Staff user profiles

Full name, slug (author page URL), location, bio (200 chars), cover photo, profile image (auto-Gravatar), custom website URL
Social links — Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, Facebook, X/Twitter (expanded Apr 2025)
Staff access tokens — Per-user API tokens
Email notification preferences — Configurable per user
Password management — Change/reset from login screen
Transfer ownership — Owner can transfer to any administrator

Security

Device verification — Email auth code on unrecognized device login (shipped Apr 2025)
Email 2FA — Two-factor authentication via email for all staff; optionally forced for all staff via config
History log — Full audit trail of all staff actions in admin
Private site mode — Shared password on frontend; disables SEO; blocks crawlers; generates private RSS URL

Site settings

Publication title and description
Publication timezone — Configurable timezone for dates
Publication language — For i18n/translation
Site navigation — Primary and secondary menus
Social accounts — Facebook and X/Twitter links
Meta settings — Site-wide meta title, description
Design & branding — Accent color, icon, logo, cover image, description, custom fonts
Code injection — Header and footer
Analytics toggles — Enable/disable individual analytics features
Member settings — Signup access, tiers, Portal configuration, default post access
Email settings — Newsletters, sending domain, Mailgun config
Stripe connection — Test/live mode toggle

Labs

Experimental feature toggles for beta/pre-release features
Currently/recently includes: Portal translation, Tips & Donations, Social web (ActivityPub), Import/Export tools, routes.yaml upload
enableDeveloperExperiments — Hidden config flag for alpha features
Features graduate from Labs to GA over time (e.g., Members, Lexical editor, ActivityPub)

10. Analytics & reporting

Native web analytics (shipped Ghost 6.0, Aug 2025)

First-party, cookie-free — No cookies or persistent browser storage; 24-hour unique visitor windows
Powered by Tinybird/ClickHouse — EU data storage on Ghost(Pro); self-hosters need Tinybird API key
Real-time visitor count — Live count of current site visitors
Unique visitors and total views — With date range filter (today → all time)
Audience segment filter — Public visitors, free members, paid members
Top content — Posts, pages, or combined; sortable
Top sources / referrers — Where traffic comes from
UTM parameter support — Full UTM searchable and filterable (shipped Jan 2026)
Chainable filters — Complex filter queries on analytics data (shipped Jan 2026)
Location data — World map and country-level visitor breakdown
Per-post web analytics — Unique visitors, views, locations, sources per post; filterable by date and audience

Total subscribers — Count with growth graph over time
Average open rate — Across all newsletters in date range
Average click rate — Across all newsletters
Top newsletters table — Sortable by performance
Newsletter filter — Filter by individual newsletter
Per-post newsletter stats — Sent count, opens (count + rate vs. average), clicks (count + rate vs. average)
Per-link click breakdown — Which specific links got most engagement
Per-member detail — Drill down to see which members opened or clicked
Open tracking — Via tracking pixel (Apple Mail Privacy Protection caveat noted)
Click tracking — Via link redirect system
Audience feedback per post — "More like this" / "Less like this" breakdown

Growth analytics

Total members — Free + paid with historical graph
Free vs. paid breakdown — Separate counts and graphs
Cadence breakdown — Monthly vs. annual paid subscribers (shipped Jan 2026)
Tier breakdown — Per-tier subscriber counts (shipped Jan 2026)
Paid subscription changes — Daily/weekly/monthly add/cancel graph
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) — Normalized monthly revenue; canceled subs removed at cancellation; "forever" discounts deducted
Top content for growth — Which posts/pages/sources drove most signups and revenue
Signup attribution — Source tracking for all new members

Analytics export & configuration

CSV export — Post metrics for last 1,000 posts; exportable from Settings
Granular toggles — Enable/disable individual analytics features
Third-party analytics — Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, etc. via code injection

Launched as public beta March 2025; GA in Ghost 6.0 (August 2025). Built as a separate TypeScript service using the Fedify framework (multi-tenant ActivityPub server). Ghost is a founding sponsor of the Social Web Foundation.

Federation

ActivityPub protocol — W3C standard; publications become federated Actors
Social web handle — @index@yourdomain.com (customizable username via Profile → Edit)
Cross-platform compatibility — Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, WordPress (ActivityPub plugin), Ghost, WriteFreely, Surf
Bluesky support — Via Bridgy Fed bridge
Proxy routes — /.ghost/activitypub/*, /.well-known/webfinger, /.well-known/nodeinfo
Requires custom domain — Does not work with subdirectory installs

Automatic post distribution — Published posts automatically available on the Fediverse
Notes (microblogging) — Short-form updates published to social web; not displayed on website theme
No algorithms or suppression — Open protocol; content distributed directly to followers

Built-in reader — Read long-form content from followed ActivityPub accounts inside Ghost Admin
Reader customization — Adjustable background color, font, text size
Explore / discovery — Search for and follow accounts across the Fediverse

Interactions

Follow — Follow any ActivityPub account
Like — Like posts across platforms
Reply — Reply to content across platforms
Repost — Reshare content
Notifications — Real-time notifications for follows, likes, replies, reposts in Ghost Admin
Moderation controls — Block individual accounts and entire domains from interacting

Technical architecture

Separate repo: TryGhost/ActivityPub (TypeScript, 218 stars)
Built with Fedify framework
MySQL database with migration tooling
Docker Compose deployment
Proxied by Nginx

12. Comments & engagement

Native comments

Built-in commenting — Members-only comment system on posts
Access control — Enable for all members or paid-members only
Member profile context — Optional short profile title shown alongside member name in comment threads
Threaded replies — Nested reply threads (upgraded Dec 2024)
Sorting — Best (by likes), newest, oldest
Moderation — Approve, hide, delete comments; search comments
Comments dashboard — Centralized management across all posts (shipped Feb 2026)
Reporting — Members can report comments; owners notified via email
Flags — Members can flag problematic comments for staff review
On-page moderation — Staff can moderate directly from comment thread
Comment bans — Ban members from commenting, with option to hide prior comments
Member actions — Create, edit, delete own comments
Newsletter CTA — Optional commenting link in newsletter footer to drive engagement
CTA at top — Signup call-to-action at top of comments for non-members

Technical implementation

React-based JavaScript widget (apps/comments-ui)
Loaded via jsDelivr CDN
Configurable/relocatable/disablable via config
Theme integration via {{comments}} in templates

13. Hosting & infrastructure

Ghost(Pro) managed hosting

Fully managed — Automated installs, upgrades, backups, performance optimization
14-day free trial — All plans
Automatic weekly updates — Ghost version updates applied automatically
Worldwide CDN — Fastly edge network
Enterprise security — 24/7 DDoS mitigation, WAF, brute force protection, automatic rate limiting
Automated backups — Regular automatic backups
Free SSL — Included on all plans
Custom SSL — Business ($50/mo addon) or Custom
Free custom domain — ghost.io subdomain + 1-year free .link domain (via Entri DNS integration)
Custom domain support — Any domain via CNAME
Subdirectory install — e.g., example.com/blog (Business $50/mo addon or Custom)
Dedicated IP — Custom plan only
99.9% uptime SLA — Custom plan only
Carbon neutral — Via Stripe Climate
EU data storage — Analytics data stored in EU regions

Pricing tiers (Ghost(Pro), as of 2026)

	Starter ($15/mo annual)	Publisher ($29/mo annual)	Business ($199/mo annual)	Custom
Staff users	1	3	15	Unlimited
Members included	1,000	1,000	10,000	Unlimited
Upload limit	5 MB	100 MB	250 MB	1 GB
Newsletters	1	3	10	Unlimited
Premium tiers	—	3	10	Unlimited
Offers	—	15	50	Unlimited
Paid subscriptions	—	✓	✓	✓
Custom themes	—	✓	✓	✓
Custom sending domain	—	✓	✓	✓
Advanced analytics	—	✓	✓	✓
Webhooks/Zapier/API	—	✓	✓	✓
Priority support	—	—	✓	Account manager
SSO (SAML/OAuth)	—	—	—	✓

All plans include: whitelabel branding, design settings, i18n, comments, member tagging, import/export, social web (ActivityPub), Ghost Explore, recommendations, SEO, RSS, unlimited sends, email design, managed deliverability, analytics, embedded media, Slack, Content API, security features, CDN, SSL.

Self-hosting

Open source — MIT licensed; full source on GitHub
Production stack — Ubuntu 24, Node.js 22, MySQL 8, Nginx, systemd
Docker Compose — Official deployment method (developer preview in 6.0; default from 7.0)
Ghost-CLI — CLI tool for installation and management (npm install -g ghost-cli)
Configuration — nconf-based; config.production.json; all options overridable via environment variables (double-underscore nesting)
Let's Encrypt SSL — Automated via Ghost-CLI + acme.sh
Process management — systemd (production); auto-restart on crash; runs as unprivileged ghost user
Default port — 2368

Ghost-CLI commands

ghost install / ghost install local / ghost install [version]
ghost setup (mysql, nginx, ssl, linux-user, systemd, migrate — individually runnable/skippable)
ghost config — Configure settings
ghost start / ghost stop / ghost restart
ghost update / ghost check-update
ghost doctor / ghost doctor startup / ghost doctor setup — Diagnostics
ghost ls — List all instances
ghost log — View logs
ghost backup — Generate backup zip
ghost migrate — Run migrations
ghost uninstall

Configuration options

url — Public site URL (required)
database — MySQL/SQLite connection; connection pooling; SSL support (Amazon RDS, custom CA)
mail — Nodemailer-based; SMTP transport; Mailgun (recommended), Amazon SES, any SMTP
admin — Separate admin URL/protocol
server — Host and port
privacy — Disable update check, Gravatar, structured data (useTinfoil: true for all)
security — Disable staff device verification; force 2FA
paths — Custom content directory
logging — Level, rotation, transports, path, timezone
spam — Spam request handling
compress — Response compression toggle
imageOptimization — Auto resize toggle
caching — Configurable maxAge for: frontend, contentAPI, robotstxt, sitemap, publicAssets, redirects, CORS, well-known
opensea — OpenSea API key for NFT embeds
tenor — Tenor/Google API key for GIF search
twitter — Bearer token for newsletter card rendering
portal / sodoSearch / comments — Relocate or disable frontend scripts
pintura — Image editor integration config

Adapter system (pluggable layers)

Storage adapters — Default: local-file-store; 20+ community adapters (S3, Cloudinary, Google Cloud, Azure, Backblaze B2, GitHub, BunnyCDN, WebDAV, Tencent COS, Aliyun OSS, etc.); custom adapters extend ghost-storage-base with save(), exists(), serve(), delete(), read()
Cache adapters — Default: in-memory; built-in Redis adapter; custom via @tryghost/adapter-base-cache with TTL and key prefix support
SSO adapters — SAML, OAuth, identity provider support
Scheduling adapters — Custom scheduling backends

14. Migration & import/export

Migration CLI tool

npm install -g @tryghost/migrate
Generates Ghost-compatible ZIP for import

Supported source platforms (20+)

Substack, BeeHiiv, WordPress (API + XML), Newspack, Medium (content + members), Squarespace, Kit (ConvertKit), Mailchimp, Patreon, Buttondown, Memberful, Gumroad, Jekyll, Blogger, Chorus, Curated (content + members), Letterdrop, Libsyn, Stripe, Tiny News (content + members), Ghost-to-Ghost

Import/export formats

Content import — Ghost JSON format
Content export — Ghost JSON (from Settings → Labs)
Member import — CSV with email, name, note, subscribed_to_emails, complimentary_plan, stripe_customer_id, created_at, labels
Member export — CSV with all metadata
Theme download — .zip
Routes export — routes.yaml download from admin
Redirects export — redirects.yaml download
Analytics export — CSV for last 1,000 posts
Full backup — ghost backup CLI command (database + content folder + config)
Complete data export — Full site data available via Ghost(Pro) support request

15. Recommendations

Recommend other publications — Cross-promote publications to your audience
Custom title and description — Per recommendation
Popup after signup — Recommendations displayed to new members after email confirmation
Direct URL access — /#/portal/recommendations; can add to site navigation
Incoming recommendation tracking — See which publications recommend you
Click and subscription stats — Track referrals sent and received
Built on Webmentions — Open standard; works cross-platform (not Ghost-only)
Mutual discovery — Network effects from reciprocal recommendations

16. Search

Native search (Sodo Search)

Built-in full-text search — Searches post titles and excerpts
Coverage — Most recent 10,000 posts
Keyboard shortcut — Cmd/Ctrl + K
No configuration required — Works out of the box with any theme
Implementation — React widget (@tryghost/sodo-search); loaded via jsDelivr CDN
Theme integration — {{search}} helper or data-ghost-search attribute
Configurable — Can relocate or disable via sodoSearch config

Advanced search (Algolia)

Algolia Ghost CLI — Index population tool for sites with 10,000+ posts
Netlify Functions — Webhook-based index updates
For complex search requirements beyond native capabilities

17. Announcements & promotions

Announcement bar

Site-wide banner — Prominent announcement at top of site
Custom text and background color — Configurable copy and color
Visibility targeting — Show to logged-out visitors, free members, paid members, or any combination
Works with any theme — Universal compatibility
Implementation — React widget (apps/announcement-bar)

Offers (see Membership & Subscriptions §Offers)

Ghost Explore (discovery engine)

Publisher directory — explore.ghost.org showcases indie Ghost publications
Category organization — Art & Culture, Business, Education, Technology, etc.
Ranking algorithm — Powered by ahrefs/OpenRank (domain authority, search rankings)
Social web category — Find Ghost publications on the Fediverse
Growth metric sharing — Optionally share metrics to boost ranking
Auto-enabled — For all Ghost 6.0+ sites; can be toggled off
Shipped November 2025

Milestone emails

Automatic milestone notifications — Sends celebratory emails at key member and revenue milestones
Increment thresholds — Includes checkpoints such as 100, 1K, 10K, 25K, 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K, and 1M

18. Portal (membership UI)

Built-in signup/login overlay — Works with any theme; no code required
React SPA — Loaded as script tag (@tryghost/portal)

Portal screens

#/portal/signup — Signup form
#/portal/signin — Login form
#/portal/account — Member account management
#/portal/account/plans — Subscription plan management
#/portal/account/profile — Profile editing
#/portal/recommendations — Recommended publications
#/portal/signup/TIER_ID/monthly or /yearly — Direct tier signup

Configuration

Plan selection — Choose which tiers and prices (monthly, yearly, both) appear
Display name field — Toggle optional name collection
Default price — Set monthly or yearly as default
Portal button — Show/hide; style (icon+text, icon only, text only); custom icon upload (SVG/PNG/JPG ≤60px); custom text
Brand customization — Colors match publication brand
Hidden mode — Hide button but retain functionality via URL hash links and data-portal attributes
Support email — Configurable public support address
Account management — Members manage subscriptions, update payment, switch tiers, manage newsletter preferences
Stripe billing portal — data-members-manage-billing and data-members-edit-billing attributes

19. Routing

Dynamic routing (routes.yaml)

Location: content/settings/routes.yaml; upload/download via Settings → Labs
Three sections:
1. routes: — Map individual URLs to templates; supports controller: channel with filter, order, template; custom data property
2. collections: — Groups of posts with unique URL structures, permalink patterns, filters, templates, posts_per_page
3. taxonomies: — Tag and author archive URL configuration (default: /tag/{slug}/, /author/{slug}/)

Routing capabilities

Custom homepage — Landing page at / + posts at /blog/ or other path
Multiple collections — e.g., /blog/ and /podcast/ with different filters
Content hubs/channels — Filtered views with custom ordering
Custom ordering — order: featured desc, published_at asc
Permalink patterns — /{slug}/, /{year}/{slug}/, /{primary_tag}/{slug}/, etc.
Content-type routes — content_type: text/xml for custom RSS/XML feeds
Custom RSS feeds — Via routes + Handlebars templates generating XML

URL structure

Posts — /{slug}/ (default); customizable via collections
Pages — /{slug}/
Tags — /tag/{slug}/ (default); customizable
Authors — /author/{slug}/ (default); customizable
RSS — /rss/; per-tag /tag/{slug}/rss/; per-author /author/{slug}/rss/
Private RSS — Special URL when private site mode enabled

Redirects

redirects.yaml in content/data/
Upload via admin settings
301/302 support
Regex patterns supported
Not for www/HTTPS redirects (use DNS)

20. Internationalization

60+ language support — Set publication language in admin settings
Automatic translations — Portal, newsletters, search, comments auto-translated based on publication language
Theme translation helper — {{t}} / {{translate}} for custom theme strings
Per-locale JSON files — Translation files in theme locales/ directory
RTL support — Right-to-left language support in themes
Configurable timezone — For publication dates and scheduling
Shipped November 2024

Technical architecture summary

Ghost is a Yarn v1 + Nx monorepo (MIT licensed, ~51.5k GitHub stars). The workspace divides into ghost/* (core platform) and apps/* (frontend React applications).

Core stack

Backend: Node.js + Express.js
Database: MySQL 8 (production) / SQLite (development)
ORM: Bookshelf.js over Knex.js
Admin UI: Ember.js (legacy) + React/Tailwind (Admin-X, progressively replacing Ember)
Editor: Koenig — React + Meta's Lexical framework (separate TryGhost/Koenig repo)
Frontend: Handlebars server-side templating
Member apps: React (Portal, Comments, Search, Signup Form, Announcement Bar)
Analytics: Tinybird/ClickHouse integration
Payments: Stripe
ActivityPub: TypeScript service built with Fedify framework (separate TryGhost/ActivityPub repo)
Error tracking: Sentry
CDN: Fastly (Ghost(Pro))
CI: GitHub Actions + Playwright E2E

Key monorepo packages

Package	Role
`ghost/core`	Main application — Express server, API, models, services, migrations, frontend
`ghost/admin`	Ember.js admin dashboard
`apps/admin-x-settings`	React-based settings UI (replacing Ember)
`apps/admin-x-framework`	Shared React framework for admin
`apps/admin-x-design-system`	Component library for Admin-X
`apps/portal`	Member signup/login/account widget
`apps/comments-ui`	Comment system frontend
`apps/sodo-search`	Site search UI
`apps/signup-form`	Embeddable signup form
`apps/announcement-bar`	Announcement banner
`@tryghost/koenig-lexical`	Main editor component
`@tryghost/kg-default-nodes`	All editor card/node definitions
`@tryghost/kg-lexical-html-renderer`	Lexical → HTML (web + email targets)
`@tryghost/content-api`	Content API JavaScript SDK
`@tryghost/admin-api`	Admin API JavaScript SDK
`@tryghost/magic-link`	Passwordless authentication
`@tryghost/domain-events`	Event-driven architecture backbone
`@tryghost/custom-fonts`	Font management

TryGhost/Ghost — Main monorepo
TryGhost/Koenig — Editor monorepo
TryGhost/SDK — API client SDKs
TryGhost/Ghost-CLI — CLI installation/management tool
TryGhost/migrate — Migration tools (20+ source platform adapters)
TryGhost/ActivityPub — ActivityPub federation server
TryGhost/Source — Default theme
TryGhost/Casper — Classic default theme
TryGhost/Themes — Official theme collection
TryGhost/TrafficAnalytics — Analytics service (Tinybird bridge)
TryGhost/algolia — Algolia search integration
TryGhost/action-deploy-theme — GitHub Action for theme CI/CD
TryGhost/api-demos — API usage examples

Ghost: Complete product feature map

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