## 1. Project Overview & Quickstart (TryGhost/Ghost) ## File: README.md       > [!NOTE] > Love open source? We're hiring! Ghost is looking staff engineers to [join the team](https://careers.ghost.org) and work with us full-time [](https://ghost.org/)   [](https://ghost.org/pricing/#gh-light-mode-only) [](https://ghost.org/pricing/#gh-dark-mode-only) The easiest way to get a production instance deployed is with our official **[Ghost(Pro)](https://ghost.org/pricing/)** managed service. It takes about 2 minutes to launch a new site with worldwide CDN, backups, security and maintenance all done for you. For most people this ends up being the best value option because of [how much time it saves](https://ghost.org/docs/hosting/) — and 100% of revenue goes to the Ghost Foundation; funding the maintenance and further development of the project itself. So you’ll be supporting open source software *and* getting a great service!   # Quickstart install If you want to run your own instance of Ghost, in most cases the best way is to use our **CLI tool** ``` npm install ghost-cli -g ```   Then, if installing locally add the `local` flag to get up and running in under a minute - [Local install docs](https://ghost.org/docs/install/local/) ``` ghost install local ```   or on a server run the full install, including automatic SSL setup using LetsEncrypt - [Production install docs](https://ghost.org/docs/install/ubuntu/) ``` ghost install ```   Check out our [official documentation](https://ghost.org/docs/) for more information about our [recommended hosting stack](https://ghost.org/docs/hosting/) & properly [upgrading Ghost](https://ghost.org/docs/update/), plus everything you need to develop your own Ghost [themes](https://ghost.org/docs/themes/) or work with [our API](https://ghost.org/docs/content-api/). ### Contributors & advanced developers To contribute to Ghost, start with the [contributing guide](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md). To work on the monorepo, see the [codebase documentation](docs/README.md).   # Ghost sponsors A big thanks to our sponsors and partners who make Ghost possible. If you're interested in sponsoring Ghost and supporting the project, please check out our profile on [GitHub sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/TryGhost) :heart: **[DigitalOcean](https://m.do.co/c/9ff29836d717)** • **[Fastly](https://www.fastly.com/)** • **[Tinybird](https://tbrd.co/ghost)** • **[BairesDev](https://www.bairesdev.com)**   # Getting help Everyone can get help and support from a large community of developers over on the [Ghost forum](https://forum.ghost.org/). **Ghost(Pro)** customers have access to 24/7 email support. To stay up to date with all the latest news and product updates, make sure you [subscribe to our changelog newsletter](https://ghost.org/changelog/) — or follow us [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/Ghost), if you prefer your updates bite-sized and facetious. :saxophone::turtle:   # License & trademark Copyright (c) 2013-2026 Ghost Foundation - Released under the [MIT license](LICENSE). Ghost and the Ghost Logo are trademarks of Ghost Foundation Ltd. Please see our [trademark policy](https://ghost.org/trademark/) for info on acceptable usage. --- ## File: docs/README.md # Ghost Codebase Documentation Welcome to the Ghost codebase documentation! These docs are for anyone wanting to work on the Ghost codebase. For self-hosting, themes, or using Ghost APIs, see the [official Ghost documentation](https://ghost.org/docs/). ## Quick Start With the [prerequisites](contributing/development-setup.md#prerequisites) installed: ```bash git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:TryGhost/Ghost.git cd Ghost pnpm setup pnpm dev ``` Ghost will be available at: - **Main site**: [http://localhost:2368](http://localhost:2368) - **Admin panel**: [http://localhost:2368/ghost/](http://localhost:2368/ghost/) - **Development email**: [http://localhost:8025](http://localhost:8025) `pnpm dev` also starts the supporting MySQL and Redis containers, plus Admin and Portal development watchers. For more detail, see the [development setup guide](contributing/development-setup.md) including first-run setup, development variants, and troubleshooting. ## Repository Structure ```text Ghost/ ├── apps/ # Admin and public frontend apps │ ├── admin/ # React Admin │ ├── ember-admin/ # Legacy Ember Admin │ ├── portal/ # Member Portal │ ├── comments-ui/ # Comments │ └── shade/ # Admin design system ├── ghost/core/ # Ghost server and frontend rendering │ ├── core/server/ # APIs, models, and services │ ├── core/frontend/ # Theme rendering and helpers │ ├── content/ # Default themes, adapters, and local content │ └── test/ # Server tests ├── koenig/ # Editor and content-format packages ├── packages/ # Shared libraries and adapter contracts ├── configs/ # Shared build, lint, test, and TypeScript config ├── e2e/ # Browser end-to-end tests ├── docker/ # Local development containers and services └── scripts/ # Repository tooling ``` pnpm links the workspaces and Nx runs their tasks in dependency order. For more detail, see the [monorepo structure guide](codebase/monorepo-structure.md). The [configuration guide](codebase/configuration.md) explains how Ghost Core loads defaults, local overrides, environment variables, and secrets. The [authentication guide](codebase/authentication.md) maps staff, integration, and member authentication to the current codebase. ## Contributing a change Before contributing, please read: 1. [Contributing Guide](../.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) - Guidelines for contributions 2. [Code of Conduct](../.github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) - Community standards To contribute or add translations, see [Translating Ghost](contributing/translating-ghost.md). For more detail on adding translatable product copy, see the [internationalization guide](practices/internationalization.md). ## Guides Codebase guides explain how the main systems fit together: - [Authentication](codebase/authentication.md) - [Configuration](codebase/configuration.md) - [Database structure](codebase/database.md) - [Internal caching](codebase/internal-caching.md) - [Jobs system](codebase/jobs.md) - [Post analytics](codebase/post-analytics.md) - [Site UUID](codebase/site-uuid.md) - [Stripe flows](codebase/stripe-flows.md) - [Theme compatibility](codebase/theme-compatibility.md) Practice and contributor guides explain how to make and verify changes: - [API design](practices/api-design.md) - [Database migrations](practices/database-migrations.md) - [Browser E2E testing](contributing/e2e-testing.md) - [Codebase documentation](contributing/documentation.md) - [Email testing](contributing/testing-email.md) - [Error handling](practices/error-handling.md) - [Internationalization](practices/internationalization.md) - [Performance testing](contributing/performance-testing.md) - [Testing development URLs and devices](contributing/testing-development-urls.md) Reference guides provide tables and other information to look up while working on Ghost: - [Node.js compatibility](reference/node-compatibility.md) ### Finding Issues to Work On - [Good First Issues](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/labels/good%20first%20issue) - Great for newcomers - [Help Wanted](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/labels/help%20wanted) - Issues that need attention ### Development Workflow 1. **Clone** the repository 2. **Create a branch** for your changes 3. **Make your changes** and write tests 4. **Run `pnpm check`** to ensure everything works 5. **Commit** following our commit message conventions 6. **Submit a pull request** to the `main` branch For more detail, see the [contribution workflow](contributing/workflow.md). ### Testing Use `pnpm check` as the default one-stop command for linting and testing. Add tests at the closest layer to the behavior you changed. Browser end-to-end tests and Ember Admin tests run separately from `pnpm check`. For more detail, see the [testing guide](contributing/testing.md) including how to choose a test suite, run focused tests, and use the separate browser and Ember Admin test lanes. ### Shipping Admin uses continuous delivery on Ghost(Pro), so every commit to `main` can ship before the next server release. Keep Admin compatible with server versions that are still live. Public Ghost releases include Admin and the server every Tuesday. For more detail, see the [shipping guide](contributing/shipping.md) including when changes reach Ghost(Pro), self-hosted installs, npm, jsDelivr, and the Docker Official Image. ## Additional Resources - **[Official Documentation](https://ghost.org/docs/)** - User and developer docs - **[Ghost Forum](https://forum.ghost.org)** - Community support and discussions - **[API Documentation](https://ghost.org/docs/content-api/)** - Content and Admin API reference - **[Theme Documentation](https://ghost.org/docs/themes/)** - Theme development ## Getting Help - **Forum**: [forum.ghost.org](https://forum.ghost.org) - **Support**: [See SUPPORT.md](../.github/SUPPORT.md) - **Issues**: [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues) ## License Ghost is open source software licensed under the [MIT License](../LICENSE). ## 2. Official Technical Reference & Guides (TryGhost/docs) # Ghost Docs This repository contains the official developer documentation for [Ghost](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost), published at [docs.ghost.org](https://docs.ghost.org/). ## Local development Local previews require a Node.js version supported by [`package.json`](./package.json). Enable pnpm through Corepack and install the repository dependencies: ```sh corepack enable pnpm pnpm install pnpm dev ``` The preview is available at `http://localhost:3000` by default. ## Validation Run the documentation checks before opening a pull request: ```sh pnpm lint pnpm test pnpm a11y ``` These checks currently expose known findings on `main`. Compare your results with `main` and avoid introducing additional failures. See the [contribution guide](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) for the repository workflow. ## Deployment The Mintlify GitHub App creates pull request previews. Merging to `main` triggers deployment to [docs.ghost.org](https://docs.ghost.org/); monitor the `Mintlify Deployment` check for the result. --- ## Copyright & License Copyright (c) 2013-2026 Ghost Foundation. All rights reserved. This code is considered closed-source and not for distribution. There is no open source license associated with this project.