How to Install Ghost Blogging Platform on Ubuntu 24.04

Install Ghost on Ubuntu 24.04 via Ghost-CLI or Docker Compose, proxy with Nginx, secure SSL using Certbot, enable analytics with Tinybird and federation using ActivityPub.

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform designed for bloggers, journalists, and content creators. It provides built-in newsletter functionality, membership management, and subscription features. Recent versions support ActivityPub federation for interaction with decentralized social networks and include web analytics through Tinybird integration.

This article explains how to install Ghost Blogging Platform on Ubuntu 24.04 using two methods: Ghost-CLI for a traditional installation and Docker Compose for containerized deployments with analytics capabilities.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you:

Have access to an Ubuntu 24.04 based server as a non-root user with sudo privileges.
Create a domain A record pointing to the instance’s public IP address, such as ghost.example.com.

The CLI method installs Ghost directly on the host system using Ghost-CLI. This requires you to install Node.js, MySQL, and Nginx as dependencies before installing Ghost.

Install Node.js

Ghost is compatible with Node v22 LTS. You can check the list of compatible Node versions for Ghost at the official documentation.

Download and run the NodeSource setup script to install Node.js v22 LTS.

console

$ curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x -o nodesource_setup.sh
$ sudo -E bash nodesource_setup.sh
$ sudo apt install -y nodejs

Verify the installed Node.js version.
console
```
$ node -v
```
Output:
```
v22.21.0
```

Install and Configure MySQL

Install the MySQL Server.
console
```
$ sudo apt install -y mysql-server
```
MySQL starts automatically and runs as a service.
Verify the MySQL installation.
console
```
$ mysql --version
```
Your output should be similar to the one below.
```
mysql  Ver 8.0.43-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 for Linux on x86_64 ((Ubuntu))
```
Secure the MySQL installation.
console
```
$ sudo mysql_secure_installation
```
Follow the interactive prompts to improve MySQL security. The root account uses the auth_socket plugin by default, which authenticates based on the system user and does not require a separate password.
- VALIDATE Password: Enter y to enable password validation for new database users.
- Password Validation Policy: Enter 2 for strong password requirements (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, special characters).
- Remove anonymous users: Enter y to remove anonymous access.
- Disallow root login remotely: Enter y to restrict root access to localhost only.
- Remove test database: Enter y to delete the test database.
- Reload privilege tables: Enter y to apply changes immediately.
Log in to the MySQL console.
console
```
$ sudo mysql
```

Create a database, user, and grant privileges.

sql

mysql> CREATE DATABASE ghost_db;
mysql> CREATE USER 'ghostuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Your_password2!';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON ghost_db.* TO 'ghostuser'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Install Nginx Web Server

Install Nginx.
console
```
$ sudo apt install -y nginx
```
Allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic through the firewall.
console
```
$ sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
```
Verify Nginx is running.
console
```
$ sudo systemctl status nginx
```

Install Ghost

Install the Ghost-CLI package globally.
console
```
$ sudo npm install ghost-cli@latest -g
```
Create a directory for the Ghost installation.
console
```
$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/ghost
```

Set ownership to the current user.

console

$ sudo chown $USER:$USER /var/www/html/ghost

Set directory permissions.
console
```
$ sudo chmod 775 /var/www/html/ghost
```
Navigate to the Ghost directory.
console
```
$ cd /var/www/html/ghost
```
Run the Ghost installation process.
console
```
$ ghost install
```
The installer prompts for configuration details. Provide the following information:
- Enter your blog URL: Your domain with HTTPS, e.g., https://ghost.example.com
- Enter your MySQL hostname: localhost
- Enter your MySQL username: The username created earlier (e.g., ghostuser)
- Enter your MySQL password: The password set earlier (e.g., Your_password2!)
- Enter your Ghost database name: The database created earlier (e.g., ghost_db)
- Do you wish to set up Nginx?: Enter y to configure Nginx automatically
- Do you wish to set up SSL?: Enter y to install acme.sh for SSL certificate management
- Enter your email (For SSL Certificates): A valid email address for certificate notifications
- Do you wish to set up Systemd?: Enter y to create a systemd service for Ghost
- Do you want to start Ghost?: Enter y to start Ghost immediately

Manage Ghost Configuration

To update any of the parameters, edit the configuration file below..
console
```
$ nano /var/www/html/ghost/config.production.json
```
After changing the configuration, restart Ghost.
console
```
$ cd /var/www/html/ghost
$ ghost restart
```
- Alternatively, restart and view the status of Ghost using systemd. Replace ghost-example-com with your domain name.
  console
  $ sudo systemctl restart ghost_ghost-example-com.service $ sudo systemctl status ghost_ghost-example-com.service
  From the output, verify that the service is running.

Update Ghost

Navigate to the Ghost installation directory.
console
```
$ cd /var/www/html/ghost
```
Create a backup before updating. This command prompts for your sudo password and staff access token. You can find the staff access token under Settings > Staff > View Profile.
console
```
$ ghost backup
```
Update Ghost to the latest version.
console
```
$ ghost update
```
Ghost-CLI handles database migrations and applies all required changes, which may result in brief downtime.
- To update to a specific version, replace VERSION with the desired release.
  console
  $ ghost update VERSION

The Docker Compose method deploys Ghost in containers, providing better isolation and built-in support for web analytics through Tinybird.

Install Docker

Follow the How to Install Docker on Ubuntu 24.04 article to install Docker Engine and Docker Compose plugin, then add your user to the docker group.

console

$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker

Clone the Ghost Docker Repository

Clone the repository and navigate to it.

console

$ git clone https://github.com/TryGhost/ghost-docker.git ~/ghost
$ cd ~/ghost

Configure Ghost

Create configuration files from the provided templates.

console

$ cp .env.example .env
$ cp caddy/Caddyfile.example caddy/Caddyfile

Edit the .env file to configure Ghost.
console
```
$ nano .env
```
Update the following variables:
- DOMAIN: Your Ghost domain (e.g., ghost.example.com)
- DATABASE_ROOT_PASSWORD: A strong password for the MySQL root user
- DATABASE_PASSWORD: A strong password for the Ghost database user
- SMTP Settings: Configure your SMTP credentials for a transactional email provider such as Amazon SES, SendGrid, or Mailgun.
Save and close the file.

Deploy Ghost

Allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic through the firewall.
console
```
$ sudo ufw allow http
$ sudo ufw allow https
```
Pull the Docker images defined in the compose file.
console
```
$ docker compose pull
```
Start the Ghost containers in detached mode.
console
```
$ docker compose up -d
```
Verify that all containers are running.
console
```
$ docker compose ps
```
Confirm that the STATUS column shows each container as Up and healthy.

Enable Web Analytics

Create a Tinybird account and set up a workspace.
Navigate to the Ghost directory.
console
```
$ cd ~/ghost
```

Authenticate with Tinybird using the Docker container.

console

$ docker compose run --rm tinybird-login

Select your Tinybird workspace region from the list. The command generates a one-time code and a URL. Open the URL in a browser, log in to Tinybird, select your workspace, and enter the provided code to complete authentication.

» No region detected, select one from the list below:                                                                                                        
[1] europe-west2 (gcp) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/gcp/europe-west2) 
[2] europe-west3 (gcp) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/gcp/europe-west3) 
[3] us-east4 (gcp) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/gcp/us-east4) 
[4] us-east-1 (aws) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/aws/us-east-1) 
[5] us-west-2 (aws) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/aws/us-west-2) 
[6] eu-central-1 (aws) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/aws/eu-central-1) 
[7] eu-west-1 (aws) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/aws/eu-west-1) 
[8] northamerica-northeast2 (gcp) (https://cloud.tinybird.co/gcp/northamerica-northeast2) 
[0] Cancel

Use region [1]: 1
First, copy your one-time code: YM2L-0Z51
Press [Enter] to continue in the browser...

» Opening browser for authentication...

If browser does not open, please open the following URL manually:
https://cloud.tinybird.co/api/cli-login?apiHost=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.europe-west2.gcp.tinybird.co&code=YM2L0Z51&method=code

Workspace: ghosttutorial
User: admin@example.com
Host: https://api.europe-west2.gcp.tinybird.co

✓ Authentication successful!

Synchronize Tinybird configuration files to the local volume.
console
```
$ docker compose run --rm tinybird-sync
```
Deploy the Tinybird configuration, which creates Tinybird datasources, pipes, and API endpoints. This process may take several minutes.
console
```
$ docker compose run --rm tinybird-deploy
```

Generate Tinybird API tokens.

console

$ docker compose run --rm tinybird-login get-tokens

Update the .env file with Tinybird configuration.

console

$ nano .env

Add or update the Tinybird section with the values from the previous command:

ini

COMPOSE_PROFILES=analytics
TINYBIRD_API_URL=https://api.europe-west2.gcp.tinybird.co
TINYBIRD_WORKSPACE_ID=bd3356c1-fb2b-4620-9a62-caa5ccf6c02b
TINYBIRD_ADMIN_TOKEN=p.eyJ1IjogImJkMzM1NmMxLWZi...
TINYBIRD_TRACKER_TOKEN=p.eyJ1IjogImJkMzM1NmMxLWZi...

Replace the values with your actual tokens.

Save and close the file.

Pull updated Docker images and restart Ghost with analytics enabled.
console
```
$ docker compose pull
$ docker compose up -d
```

Enable ActivityPub Federation

Edit the .env file to enable the ActivityPub profile.
console
```
$ nano .env
```
Update the COMPOSE_PROFILES variable to include activitypub.
ini
```
COMPOSE_PROFILES=analytics,activitypub
```
If you haven’t enabled analytics, use:
ini
```
COMPOSE_PROFILES=activitypub
```
Uncomment the ACTIVITYPUB_TARGET variable.
ini
```
ACTIVITYPUB_TARGET=activitypub:8080
```
Save and close the file.

Pull the ActivityPub container and recreate Ghost and Caddy.

console

$ docker compose pull
$ docker compose up -d --force-recreate ghost caddy

Update Ghost Using Docker

Navigate to the Ghost directory.
console
```
$ cd ~/ghost
```
Pull the latest Docker images.
console
```
$ docker compose pull
```
Restart containers with the new images.
console
```
$ docker compose up -d
```
Remove unused Docker images to free disk space.
console
```
$ docker image prune -f
```
If you modified .env or Caddy configuration, force container recreation.
console
```
$ docker compose up -d --force-recreate ghost caddy
```
Access and Configure Ghost
1. Navigate to the Ghost admin panel at https://ghost.example.com/ghost.
1. Complete the initial setup form with the following details:
  
  Site title: Your blog or publication name
  
  Full name: Your name (displayed as the author)
  
  Email address: Admin account email
  
  Password: A strong password for the admin account
2. Click Create account & start publishing to complete setup.
3. After setup, access the admin panel at https://ghost.example.com/ghost to:
  
  Customize site design and branding
  
  Create content and manage posts
  
  Configure membership and subscription tiers
  
  Set up integrations and custom code injection
  
  Manage team members and permissions
Conclusion

You have successfully installed Ghost on Ubuntu 24.04 using either Ghost-CLI for traditional deployments or Docker Compose for containerized environments. Both methods provide a production-ready Ghost installation with SSL certificates, automated backups (CLI method), and optional web analytics through Tinybird integration. Ghost is now ready for content creation, newsletter distribution, and membership management.

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