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Deploying Ghost on Render

This guide explains how to deploy Ghost on Render using the included render.yaml Blueprint configuration.

Prerequisites

Quick Deploy

Option 1: One-Click Deploy with Blueprint

  1. Click the button below to deploy Ghost to Render:

    Deploy to Render

  2. In the Render dashboard, you'll be prompted to:

    • Connect your GitHub/GitLab repository
    • Set required environment variables (see below)

  3. Click Apply to start the deployment

Option 2: Manual Setup

  1. Create a new Blueprint in your Render dashboard
  2. Connect your repository containing this Ghost codebase
  3. Render will automatically detect the render.yaml file
  4. Configure the required environment variables
  5. Deploy

Configuration

Required Environment Variables

After deployment, you must configure these variables in the Render dashboard:

Variable Description Example
url Your Ghost site's public URL https://ghost-xxxx.onrender.com or https://yourdomain.com

Optional Environment Variables

Mail Configuration

Ghost requires mail configuration to send password resets, member emails, etc.

Variable Description Example
mail__options__host SMTP server host smtp.mailgun.org
mail__options__port SMTP server port 587
mail__options__secure Use TLS true
mail__options__auth__user SMTP username [email protected]
mail__options__auth__pass SMTP password your-smtp-password

Recommended Mail Providers:

Stripe Integration (Memberships)

For paid memberships and subscriptions:

Variable Description
stripe__secretKey Your Stripe secret key (sk_live_...)
stripe__publicKey Your Stripe publishable key (pk_live_...)

Architecture

The render.yaml Blueprint deploys a single Ghost web service using the official Ghost Docker image (ghost:5-alpine).

Key features:

  • Uses the official Ghost Docker image for reliability
  • SQLite database for simplicity (stored on persistent disk)
  • Persistent disk for content (images, themes, uploads, database)
  • Health check endpoint configured
  • Port 10000 (Render's default)

Database

This configuration uses SQLite by default, which is suitable for:

  • Personal blogs
  • Small to medium traffic sites
  • Development and testing

The SQLite database is stored on the persistent disk at /var/lib/ghost/content/data/ghost.db.

Using MySQL Instead

For higher traffic sites or production deployments, you may want to use MySQL. You can use an external MySQL-compatible database:

Update the database environment variables in render.yaml:

- key: database__client
  value: mysql2
- key: database__connection__host
  value: your-external-host.com
- key: database__connection__port
  value: "3306"
- key: database__connection__user
  value: your-username
- key: database__connection__password
  value: your-password
- key: database__connection__database
  value: ghost

Persistent Storage

Ghost content (images, themes, files, SQLite database) is stored on a Render Disk mounted at /var/lib/ghost/content. The default size is 10GB but can be increased in the Render dashboard.

Important: Render Disks are tied to a single service instance. For high-availability deployments, consider using external object storage like:

  • AWS S3
  • DigitalOcean Spaces
  • Cloudflare R2

Custom Domain

  1. In your Render dashboard, go to your Ghost service
  2. Click Settings > Custom Domains
  3. Add your domain and follow DNS configuration instructions
  4. Update the url environment variable to match your custom domain

Upgrading Ghost

The deployment uses the ghost:5-alpine Docker image. To upgrade:

  1. Update the FROM line in Dockerfile.render to a newer Ghost version
  2. Commit and push the changes
  3. Render will automatically rebuild and deploy

Troubleshooting

Container Startup Issues

  • Check the Render logs for error messages
  • Ensure the url environment variable is set correctly
  • Ghost may take 1-2 minutes to start on first deployment (database initialization)

Health Check Failures

  • Ghost may take 1-2 minutes to start on first deployment
  • The health check has a 60-second start period to allow for initialization
  • Check application logs for startup errors

Content Not Persisting

  • Verify the disk is properly mounted at /var/lib/ghost/content
  • Check disk usage in Render dashboard (may need to increase size)

Database Issues

  • For SQLite: Check that the /var/lib/ghost/content/data/ directory exists
  • For MySQL: Verify connection settings and that the database is accessible

Resources

Support