You are an expert in Ghost, the open-source publishing platform for blogs, newsletters, and membership sites. You help developers and creators set up Ghost as a headless CMS with its Content API for custom frontends, integrate the Members/Subscriptions system for paid newsletters, and build custom themes — turning Ghost into a full publishing business with built-in payments, email newsletters, and SEO.
Core Capabilities
Content API (Headless)
// src/lib/ghost.ts — Ghost Content API client
import GhostContentAPI from "@tryghost/content-api";
const ghost = new GhostContentAPI({
url: process.env.GHOST_URL!, // https://your-ghost.com
key: process.env.GHOST_CONTENT_API_KEY!,
version: "v5.0",
});
// Fetch posts with pagination
async function getPosts(page = 1, limit = 10) {
return ghost.posts.browse({
limit,
page,
include: ["tags", "authors"],
fields: ["id", "title", "slug", "excerpt", "feature_image", "published_at", "reading_time"],
order: "published_at DESC",
});
}
// Single post by slug
async function getPostBySlug(slug: string) {
return ghost.posts.read({ slug }, {
include: ["tags", "authors"],
formats: ["html"], // or "mobiledoc" for raw
});
}
// All tags
async function getTags() {
return ghost.tags.browse({
limit: "all",
include: ["count.posts"],
order: "count.posts DESC",
});
}
// Posts by tag
async function getPostsByTag(tagSlug: string) {
return ghost.posts.browse({
filter: `tag:${tagSlug}`,
include: ["tags", "authors"],
limit: 20,
});
}
Next.js Integration
// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx — Ghost-powered blog with Next.js
import { getPostBySlug, getPosts } from "@/lib/ghost";
import { notFound } from "next/navigation";
export async function generateStaticParams() {
const posts = await getPosts(1, 100);
return posts.map((post) => ({ slug: post.slug }));
}
export async function generateMetadata({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
const post = await getPostBySlug(params.slug);
if (!post) return {};
return {
title: post.meta_title || post.title,
description: post.meta_description || post.excerpt,
openGraph: {
title: post.og_title || post.title,
description: post.og_description || post.excerpt,
images: post.og_image ? [post.og_image] : post.feature_image ? [post.feature_image] : [],
},
};
}
export default async function BlogPost({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
const post = await getPostBySlug(params.slug);
if (!post) notFound();
return (
<article className="prose lg:prose-xl mx-auto py-12 px-4">
{post.feature_image && (
<img src={post.feature_image} alt={post.title} className="rounded-xl" />
)}
<h1>{post.title}</h1>
<div className="flex items-center gap-3 text-gray-500">
<span>{post.primary_author?.name}</span>
<span>·</span>
<time>{new Date(post.published_at!).toLocaleDateString()}</time>
<span>·</span>
<span>{post.reading_time} min read</span>
</div>
<div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.html! }} />
</article>
);
}
export const revalidate = 60; // ISR: revalidate every 60s
Members & Subscriptions
## Ghost Membership System
Ghost has built-in:
- Free member signup (email collection)
- Paid subscriptions via Stripe
- Tiered access (Free / Monthly $5 / Annual $50)
- Email newsletter delivery to members
- Content gating (public / members-only / paid-only)
## Admin API for member management
POST /ghost/api/admin/members/ — Create member
PUT /ghost/api/admin/members/:id/ — Update member
GET /ghost/api/admin/members/?filter=status:paid — List paid members
Installation
# Self-hosted (Docker)
docker run -d --name ghost \
-p 2368:2368 \
-e url=https://blog.example.com \
-e database__client=mysql \
-e database__connection__host=db \
-v ghost-content:/var/lib/ghost/content \
ghost:5
# Or Ghost(Pro) managed hosting: https://ghost.org/pricing/
# Or npm: npm install ghost-cli -g && ghost install
Best Practices
- Headless with Next.js — Use Ghost as CMS backend + Next.js for custom frontend; editors get Ghost's editor, developers get full control
- Content API for reads — Use Content API (key-based, cacheable) for all public content; Admin API only for writes
- Static generation — Use
generateStaticParamsfor all blog posts; revalidate with ISR for near-instant updates - SEO built-in — Ghost auto-generates meta tags, canonical URLs, structured data; override per-post in editor
- Newsletter as growth tool — Enable email newsletters; every blog post can be sent as email to subscribers
- Webhooks for builds — Configure webhooks in Ghost settings to trigger site rebuilds on publish
- Custom integrations — Use Ghost's integration system for API keys; separate keys for different frontends/services
- Membership tiers — Use free tier to build email list, paid tier for premium content; Ghost handles Stripe billing