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Ghost is a modern, open-source publishing platform built specifically for blogging. Unlike heavier CMS platforms that bundle forums, e-commerce, and complex page builders, Ghost stays focused on writing and publishing — which makes it fast, lean, and straightforward to self-host.

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Why Ghost?

Ghost has several practical advantages over alternatives like WordPress:
  • Lightweight — Ghost is purpose-built for blogging with no unnecessary features. This keeps memory usage low and makes it suitable for running on modest hardware or a small VPS.
  • Low resource consumption — the Node.js runtime and minimal feature set mean Ghost typically runs comfortably within 512 MB of RAM under normal load.
  • Fully customizable themes — Ghost uses a Handlebars-based theming system. You can build themes from scratch or modify existing ones with full control over markup and styles.
  • Extensible — Ghost supports webhooks, integrations, and a native API, making it easy to connect to external services or build custom workflows around your content.

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Prerequisites

You need Docker and Docker Compose installed on your server. Verify both are available before proceeding: 
docker --version
docker compose version

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Setup

1

Create a project directory

Create a dedicated directory for your Ghost deployment. All data — including the database and uploaded content — will be stored here.
mkdir ghost-blog
cd ghost-blog
2

Create the Docker Compose file

Create a docker-compose.yml file in your project directory with the following contents. This configuration runs Ghost 5 alongside a MySQL 8.0 database.
services:
  db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    volumes:
      - ./mysql:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: PASSWORD
      MYSQL_DATABASE: ghost
  ghost:
    image: ghost:5
    restart: always
    ports:
      - '10002:2368'
    volumes:
      - ./content:/var/lib/ghost/content
    depends_on:
      - db
Ghost will be accessible on port 10002 of your host. The ./content volume persists your themes, images, and uploaded files across container restarts. The ./mysql volume persists your database.
Change MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: PASSWORD to a strong, unique password before starting the containers. Using the default value exposes your database to unauthorized access if the port is ever reachable externally.
3

Start the containers

Start Ghost and MySQL in detached mode:
docker compose up -d
Docker will pull the required images on the first run. Once complete, Ghost will be available at http://your-server:10002.
4

Complete the Ghost setup wizard

Open your browser and navigate to http://your-server:10002/ghost. You will be prompted to create an admin account and configure your blog’s title and details. Complete the wizard to finish the initial setup.
5

Reverse proxy with nginx (optional)

To serve Ghost on a standard port (80/443) with a domain name, configure nginx as a reverse proxy in front of Ghost’s port 10002.
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:10002;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}
After adding this configuration, reload nginx:
sudo nginx -s reload

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Customizing your theme

Ghost’s theme system gives you complete control over your blog’s appearance. The active theme lives in ./content/themes/. You can duplicate the default casper theme as a starting point, edit the Handlebars templates and CSS, then activate your custom theme from the Ghost admin panel under Settings → Design.
Themes are hot-reloadable in development mode, and Ghost’s theme API is well-documented. You can also install community themes by dropping the theme folder into ./content/themes/ and activating it from the admin panel.

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Updating Ghost

To update to a newer Ghost version, update the image tag in your docker-compose.yml (or pull the latest ghost:5 image) and restart: 
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
Always back up your ./content and ./mysql directories before upgrading.