Integrating Ghost with GitHub: Automating Your Content Workflow

Ghost is an excellent platform for contemporary publishing, and it becomes an even more potent tool for version control and content automation when combined with GitHub. I'll show you how to integrate Ghost with GitHub in this tutorial, which includes screenshots and samples from my setup.

Table of Contents

• Why Integrate Ghost with GitHub?
• Prerequisites
• Prepare Your GitHub Repository
• Configure GitHub Actions integration
• Create a Workflow File
• Test and Verify the Workflow

Why Integrate Ghost with GitHub?

By linking Ghost to GitHub, you can:

• Control of Versions Your Content: Monitor modifications and undo if necessary.
• Collaborate Efficiently: Make use of GitHub's extensive collaboration tools when working with your team.
• Automate Publishing: Easily sync your material between Ghost and GitHub.

GitHub - TryGhost/action-deploy-theme: :octocat: Deploy your Ghost theme with Github Actions

:octocat: Deploy your Ghost theme with Github Actions - TryGhost/action-deploy-theme

GitHubTryGhost

Let’s get started!

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

1. A running instance of Ghost (either self-hosted or via Ghost Pro).
2. A GitHub account that you may use to manage your content.
3. Basic familiarity with command-line tools and Git.

Prepare Your GitHub Repository

1. Create a Repository

• Go to your GitHub account and create a new repository.
• Name it something descriptive, like ghost-content.

2. Set Up Branches

• Use main as the default branch for live content.
• Optionally, create a drafts branch for staging unfinished posts.

3. Clone the Repository Locally
   Run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/ghost-content.git  
cd ghost-content  

Configure GitHub Actions integration

1. Access the Integrations Panel
   • Log in to your Ghost admin panel.
   • Navigate to Settings > Integrations.
2. Create a New Custom Integration
   • Click Add Custom Integration and name it GitHub Actions.

Set your Ghost integration credentials in GitHub

Next, copy and paste your integration details into your GitHub repository’s secrets. You can find these under Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions.

Create a secret named GHOST_ADMIN_API_URL using the API URL from your custom integration and another secret named GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY using the Admin API Key from the same integration.

Create a Workflow File

Add a workflow file to automate the deployment:

• File Path: .github/workflows/deploy-theme.yml

name: Deploy Ghost Theme  

on:  
  push:  
    branches:  
      - main  

jobs:  
  deploy:  
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  

    steps:  
      - name: Checkout Repository  
        uses: actions/checkout@v3  

      - name: Deploy Theme to Ghost  
        uses: TryGhost/action-deploy-theme@v1.6.0  
        with:  
          api-url: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_URL }}  
          api-key: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY }}  
  

Below my workflow, where I have also added the needed steps to copy and deploy the theme in my Raspberry PI:

name: Deploy Theme
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
      - main
    paths-ignore:
      - 'Ansible/**'
      - '.github/workflows/iac-webserver.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/os-hardening.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/os-upgrade.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/ssh-hardening.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/nginx-hardening.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/deploy.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/backupghost.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/deploy_nginx.yml'
      - 'docker-compose.yml'
      - 'docker-entrypoint.sh'
      - 'Dockerfile'

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Remove unwanted files and folders
        run: |
          rm docker-compose.yml
          rm renovate.json
      - name: Deploy Ghost Theme
        uses: TryGhost/action-deploy-theme@v1.6.6
        with:
          api-url: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_URL }}
          api-key: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY }}
          exclude: 'Ansible/**'

      - name: Copy arun.zip via SCP
        uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_USERNAME }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_SSH_PORT }}
          source: "arun.zip"
          target: "/home/marco/ghost-blog/"
        env:
          SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}

      - name: Unzip arun.zip into Docker container
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@master
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_USERNAME }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_SSH_PORT }}
          script: | (script)
       
      - name: Restart Ghost Container on Raspberry Pi
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@master
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_USERNAME }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.RASPBERRY_PI_SSH_PORT }}
          script: |
            docker restart ghost-blog_ghost_1

Test and Verify The Workflow

1. Push changes to the main branch of your theme repository.
2. Go to the Actions tab in your GitHub repository to monitor the workflow execution.
3. Verify that the theme is successfully deployed to your Ghost instance.

Bonus Tip: Version Control Your Theme

This process guarantees version control for your Ghost theme. You can efficiently and effectively roll back updates and track changes!