Ghost Blog Cheat Sheet - Commands, Debug, Locations and Shortcuts   

Ghost CLI (ghost-cli) is the official command-line tool for installing, configuring, and managing self-hosted Ghost Blog instances. This guide and cheat sheet covers every major command with practical examples, keyboard shortcuts, and a breakdown of Ghost's post types.

Installation & Updates

Install or update Ghost CLI globally via npm. Using @latest handles both cases with one command.

# Production server (non-root user)
sudo npm install -g ghost-cli@latest

# Local machine (no sudo needed)
npm install -g ghost-cli@latest

# Verify installation
ghost --version

Install & Setup Commands

ghost install

The all-in-one production installer. Runs ghost doctor → downloads Ghost → runs ghost setup → starts Ghost. Configures MySQL, NGINX, SSL (Let's Encrypt), and systemd automatically.

# Full production install (prompts for MySQL, URL, SSL, etc.)
ghost install

# Install a specific version
ghost install 5.80.0

# Local development install (SQLite3 + local process manager)
ghost install local

# Install specific version locally
ghost install 5.80.0 --local

# Install without running setup (configure manually later)
ghost install --no-setup

# Install without starting Ghost afterward
ghost install --no-start

# Non-interactive install (pass all args as flags)
ghost install --url https://mysite.com --db mysql --dbhost localhost \
  --dbuser ghost --dbpass secret --dbname ghost_prod --no-prompt

ghost setup

Runs the configuration stages individually. Called automatically by ghost install, but useful for re-running specific stages.

# Run full setup
ghost setup

# Run only the SSL stage
ghost setup ssl

# Run only NGINX config
ghost setup nginx

# Run only the MySQL user creation
ghost setup mysql

# Run only systemd service setup
ghost setup systemd

Lifecycle Commands

ghost start          # Start the Ghost instance
ghost stop           # Stop the Ghost instance
ghost restart        # Restart (required after config changes)
ghost run            # Start in foreground — useful for debugging
ghost ls             # List all Ghost instances on the server

Example — restart after a config change:

ghost config url https://newdomain.com
ghost restart

Example — check what's running across multiple sites:

ghost ls
# Name        Location               Version    Status    URL
# my-blog     /var/www/my-blog       5.80.0     running   https://myblog.com
# staging     /var/www/staging       5.79.0     stopped   https://staging.myblog.com

Update & Rollback Commands

# Update to latest
ghost update

# Update to a specific version
ghost update 6.39.0
ghost update 5 # last major version

# Roll back to the previous version
ghost update --rollback

# Check for environment issues before updating
ghost doctor

Tip: Ghost keeps previous versions in /versions/, so rollback is instant — no re-download needed.

Ghost Forced updated and Downgrade

In case of problematic start of the ghost instance you can downgrade Ghost by

ghost update v6.38.0 --force

Configuration Commands

ghost config reads and writes your .config.[env].json file. Always run ghost restart for changes to take effect.

# Open interactive config wizard
ghost config

# Read a single value
ghost config url
# → https://mysite.com

# Set a value
ghost config url https://newsite.com

# Set mail transport
ghost config mail SMTP
ghost config mailservice Mailgun
ghost config mailuser [email protected]
ghost config mailpass supersecretpassword

Key config flags

Diagnostics & Logs

# Check environment for common issues
ghost doctor

# View live logs (error + access)
ghost log

# Verbose log output for debugging
ghost log --verbose

Example — diagnose a failed install:

ghost doctor
# ✔ System checks passed
# ✖ MySQL user 'ghost' does not exist
# ✖ Port 80 is in use by another process

Global Flags

These can be combined with any command.

Examples:

# Get help for a specific command
ghost update --help

# Manage a Ghost install in a non-current directory
ghost --dir /var/www/my-other-blog restart

# Run install with no interactive prompts (CI/CD pipelines)
ghost install --no-prompt --url https://mysite.com --db sqlite3

Directory Structure

After installing Ghost, your directory will look like this. Never manually modify anything outside /content.

/var/www/ghost/
├── .config.production.json   # Main config file — edit via ghost config
├── .config.development.json  # Dev config (if installed locally)
├── .ghost-cli                # CLI metadata — do not touch
├── /content/                 # Yours — preserved across all updates
│   ├── /themes/              # Custom themes go here
│   ├── /images/              # Uploaded media
│   ├── /data/                # SQLite DB (ghost.db) for local installs
│   ├── /files/               # File uploads (PDFs, downloads)
│   └── /logs/                # Ghost application logs
├── /current/                 # Symlink → active version (e.g. /versions/5.80.0)
├── /versions/                # All installed versions (enables rollback)
└── /system/                  # ⚠ System-managed
    ├── /nginx/               # NGINX site config
    ├── /systemd/             # systemd service file
    └── /ssl/                 # Let's Encrypt certificates

What to back up:

/content/images/
/content/themes/
/content/data/*.db        # SQLite only
.config.production.json

Edit Ghost production.json file

You will need to connect to your server and then enter the root password:

sudo nano config.production.json

URLs Reference

Ghost Post Types

Ghost supports several distinct content types, each serving a different purpose in your publication.

Posts

The default content type. Appear in your main feed, can be tagged, have authors, and support access tiers.

• Public post — visible to everyone, no login required
• Members-only post — requires a free account (email sign-up)
• Paid post — requires an active paid membership
• Scheduled post — written now, published at a future date/time
• Draft — unpublished work-in-progress
• Featured post — flagged for prominence; themes typically display these differently (e.g., pinned to top, larger cards)

Pages

Static, standalone content. Do not appear in the main feed or RSS. Used for:

• About, Contact, Privacy Policy pages
• Custom landing pages
• Membership sign-up or thank-you pages

Pages can be linked in navigation but are excluded from all post loops by default.

Email newsletters

Ghost can send posts as email newsletters to your subscriber list. Each post has an email-only toggle — when enabled, the content is delivered to subscribers' inboxes but not published to the web.

• Email + web — published publicly and emailed to subscribers (default)
• Email-only — sent to subscribers, invisible on the website

Tags (internal vs public)

Not a post type per se, but tags control how content is grouped and displayed:

• Public tags — visible to readers, used for content categories (e.g., #tutorials, #news)
• Internal tags — prefixed with #, hidden from readers, used for theme logic (e.g., #featured, #newsletter)

Keyboard Shortcuts (Admin Panel)

These work inside the Ghost admin at /ghost.

Editor card shortcuts

In the editor, type / to open the card menu, or use these shortcuts:

Documentation Links

Bonus: Debugging a Ghost Instance That Won't Start

Start with these commands in order — each one narrows down the cause.

1. Check what Ghost thinks is wrong

ghost doctor

This is always the first stop. It checks for the most common issues: wrong Node version, port conflicts, bad permissions, missing MySQL user.

2. Try starting in the foreground

ghost run

Unlike ghost start, this keeps Ghost attached to your terminal and streams output directly. Error messages that would otherwise be swallowed show up here.

3. Read the logs

ghost log

For more detail:

ghost log --verbose

Logs are also available directly at ./content/logs/ — useful if Ghost won't start at all and the CLI can't reach the process.

4. Check Node version compatibility

node -v
ghost --version

Ghost is strict about Node versions. Cross-reference the version printed against the supported Node versions in the docs. A mismatch here is one of the most common causes of a silent failure.

5. Check ports and processes

sudo lsof -i :2368        # See what's using Ghost's default port
sudo lsof -i :80          # Check NGINX port
sudo systemctl status ghost_<your-site-name>   # systemd service status

6. Inspect NGINX and systemd

sudo nginx -t                                         # Test NGINX config for syntax errors
sudo journalctl -u ghost_<your-site-name> -n 50      # Last 50 systemd log lines

Quick order of operations::

• ghost doctor →
• ghost run →
• ghost log →
• check Node version →
• check ports →
• check systemd/NGINX →
• try update / downgrade of Ghost →
• server restart.