title: "Ghost CMS Integration" description: "Connect iContentForge to your Ghost CMS for automated publishing. Learn how to generate an Admin API Key and map article fields." section: "CMS Integrations"
Ghost CMS Integration
Connect your iContentForge project to a Ghost publication to automatically publish AI-generated articles. This guide walks you through generating the required Admin API Key in Ghost and configuring the connection in iContentForge.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have:
- An active iContentForge project with articles in the Ready status.
- Owner or Administrator access to your Ghost publication's admin area.
- Ghost v4.x or v5.x (Ghost 5.x is strongly recommended it uses the modern Lexical editor format).
Step 1: Generate a Ghost Admin API Key
The integration uses Ghost's Admin API, which requires a dedicated API Key.
- Log in to your Ghost Admin dashboard (typically at
yourdomain.com/ghost). - Navigate to Settings by clicking the gear icon in the bottom left.
- Click Integrations in the settings menu.
- Click Add custom integration.
- Give your integration a descriptive name, such as "iContentForge Auto-Publish".
- Click Create.
- On the integration details page, find the API Key section. Click Copy on the Admin API Key.
Keep your API Key secure. Treat it like a password. The Admin API Key grants full content management permissions. Do not share it publicly or commit it to version control.
Step 2: Configure the Connection in iContentForge
- In your iContentForge dashboard, go to your Project and open the CMS tab.
- Click Connect CMS and select Ghost from the list of available platforms.
- You will see a configuration form with two required fields:
- Base URL: Enter the full URL to your Ghost site (e.g.,
https://myblog.com). Do not include a trailing slash or the/ghostpath. - Admin API Key: Paste the key you copied from Ghost in Step 1. The format should be
id:secretboth parts separated by a colon.
- Base URL: Enter the full URL to your Ghost site (e.g.,
- Click Verify Connection. iContentForge will test the credentials and API endpoint.
- Upon successful verification, an additional dropdown will appear:
- Default Tag: Select a primary tag from your Ghost publication. All articles published from iContentForge will be assigned this tag automatically. You can add more specific tags during the article generation phase within iContentForge.
Use a tag like iContentForge or Automated as your default. This makes it easy to identify and manage all auto-published articles within your Ghost admin panel later.
Step 3: Field Mapping & Publishing
When iContentForge publishes an article to Ghost, the content fields are mapped as follows:
| iContentForge Field | Ghost Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Article Title | title | Published as the post title. |
| Full Article Body | html | Article content in HTML, converted to Ghost's Lexical format automatically via source=html. |
| Meta Title | meta_title | Used for the SEO meta title. |
| Meta Description | meta_description | Used for the SEO meta description. |
| Excerpt | custom_excerpt | A short summary of the post. |
| Primary Keyword | Assigned as a Tag | The main target keyword becomes a tag. |
| Secondary Keywords | Assigned as Tags | All secondary keywords are added as tags. |
| Featured Image URL | feature_image | The image is hosted by iContentForge/CDN and linked. |
| Author | authors | Maps to the first author in your connected Ghost publication. |
| Status | status | Articles are published as published or scheduled based on your Drip Feed settings. |
Ghost 5.x Content Format: Ghost 5.x uses the Lexical editor format internally. iContentForge submits content as HTML and Ghost automatically converts it to Lexical. This conversion is seamless no additional configuration is required on your end.
Publishing Workflow
Once connected:
- Articles in the Ready status will be published according to your project's Drip Feed schedule (approximately every 5 minutes).
- You can also manually publish a single ready article by clicking the publish icon in your article list.
- The article status in iContentForge will change from Ready to Published upon successful receipt of a
201 Createdresponse from the Ghost API. - If an error occurs (e.g., API key invalid, site unreachable), the status will change to Error, and you can view logs for troubleshooting.
Troubleshooting
Connection Verification Fails
- Double-check your Base URL. It should be the public-facing URL of your site, not the admin URL (e.g.,
https://myblog.com, nothttps://myblog.com/ghost). - Ensure the Admin API Key was copied correctly in
id:secretformat, with no extra spaces. - Verify your Ghost publication is version 4.x or higher. Older versions may not support all API features.
Article Publishes But Content is Empty
- This typically means the Ghost API did not receive the content in the correct format. Ensure your Ghost installation is up to date (v5.x recommended for full Lexical support).
- Check the error logs in the iContentForge article detail view for specific API error messages from Ghost.
Article Fails to Publish
- Check that the Default Tag selected in iContentForge exists in your Ghost publication. If it has been deleted, re-verify the connection and select a new default tag.
- Review the error logs in the iContentForge article detail view for specific API error messages from Ghost.
Next Steps
- Learn how to manage your publishing queue with Drip Feed.
- Understand the complete Article Generation Workflow.
- Explore other available CMS Integrations.