About Ghost
Ghost is a Node.js publishing system for a public site, a newsletter and paid memberships in one product. Posts, members and email live in the same app. You do not assemble those from a plugin marketplace first.
Why it exists
Publishers wanted a focused product instead of a general CMS plus a separate stack for members and email.
Who uses it
Independent publishers, newsrooms and teams that sell a membership or a newsletter.
What it is used for
A public site, member login and email to that list. It is not an ERP and it is not a general shop platform.
Open source behind the product
Ghost(Pro) is the company's hosted service. It runs this same MIT-licensed software. Self-hosting uses that code. Hosting, email delivery and support are the paid part.
How to run it on a server
- Use a Linux server and the current Ghost install guide, or the official container image.
- Ghost expects MySQL 8 and a Node version the guide lists for that release.
- Put HTTPS in front, set the site URL, and configure SMTP before you send mail.
- Back up the database and the content directory. Use the guide on ghost.org for the release you install.
Follow the project's own guide for the version you install. Commands and file names change between releases.
How to contribute
Documentation, a theme fix and a reproduced bug are useful. Read CONTRIBUTING in the TryGhost/Ghost repository before you open a pull request.
- Read the project's guidelines. Open the repository and look for CONTRIBUTING, the code of conduct and the README.
- Find something to work on. Browse good first issues or all open issues. Documentation and bug reports count.
- Make a small change. Fork the repository, work on a branch, and keep the change focused.
- Open a pull request. Say what changed and why, and link the issue. See open pull requests.
Contributions are accepted under the project's own licence (MIT). Some projects also ask you to sign a contributor agreement. A doc fix or a reproduced bug is a real contribution.
Licence: MIT
Permissive. You can use, modify and distribute it, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright and licence notice.
This is a plain-English guide, not legal advice. Read the licence in the repository before you ship it or sell a service on top of it.