Ghost
Deploy Ghost on Polyer to run a publishing platform for blogs, newsletters and membership sites. This template runs ghost:5 and a private MySQL 8.0 service, with Ghost's images and themes and the MySQL data on separate volumes. Before deploying, set the MySQL database input to ghost and review the SMTP inputs.
What you can use it for
- Publish a blog or online publication with a theme you control.
- Grow an audience with member sign-ups and email newsletters.
What this template creates
ghost
ghost:5Public endpoint Persistent volume
mysql
mysql:8.0Private service Persistent volume
Configuration to review
These inputs are exposed by the template. The deployment form identifies required values and validates them before creating services.
| Input | Environment key |
|---|---|
| Mail options auth pass | MAIL_OPTIONS_AUTH_PASS |
| Mail options auth user | MAIL_OPTIONS_AUTH_USER |
| Mail options host | MAIL_OPTIONS_HOST |
How to deploy
- Select Configure deployment and sign in or create an account.
- Choose a new or existing project and select an available region.
- Review services, required inputs, storage and compatibility warnings. Submit the deployment only when the configuration is ready.
- Inspect deployment logs, complete the application's setup and test its endpoints before production use.
Operating this application
- Create the owner account in Ghost Admin as soon as the site is reachable, and keep Ghost's url setting matched to the domain you actually serve.
- Fill in the SMTP host, user and password inputs so Ghost can send sign-in links, staff invitations and password resets; the template presets Mailgun on port 465, so adjust those variables for another provider. Sending newsletters to members needs a separate Mailgun configuration in Ghost Admin, and email provider charges are separate from hosting.
- Back up the MySQL database and the Ghost content volume together and test a restore before upgrading, because the ghost:5 tag can move to a newer 5.x release that migrates the database.
Hosting costs
CPU, memory, storage and network usage contribute to your bill. The selected region affects resource prices. A multi-service template incurs usage for each service; external APIs and software licenses are separate.
Review prices and estimate resource costsSource and validation
This deployment configuration comes from Coolify's Apache-2.0 licensed open template collection and is adapted through Polyer's compose importer.
Static compatibility analysis is not a live application verification. Test your chosen configuration and recovery workflow before using it for production.
Editorial content reviewed: 2026-10-10
