Move your publication into or out of Ghost

Choose the direction of your publication move

WordPress to Ghost: check blocks, shortcodes and the category structure against the new publication. Discuss this direction.

Ghost to WordPress: decide how the destination will display posts and enforce any member access. Discuss this direction.

For either route, tell us whether you are moving only the archive or also reader accounts and paid access. Those projects need different launch checks.

Available migration objects and capabilities depend on the selected source and target systems. Check current integration status before using this planning guide.

The archive and its reader relationships

Review posts, pages, authors, tags and accessible images against the source and destination. Ghost is available in both directions. The connection and permissions must match the records being moved; access to public posts does not establish access to private publication data.

Who will handle memberships, payments and email?

A theme, signup flow, payment setup and newsletter delivery configuration need destination-specific work. Subscription continuity requires a reviewed payment and membership plan. Do not treat a list of member email addresses as proof that paid access will work after launch.

Keep editorial decisions separate from billing decisions

A post can arrive with its text and author while still having the wrong access level. Before moving a publication with members, identify which content is public, members-only or paid, and what the new system will use to enforce that distinction.

For subscriber data, agree which fields and preferences can be transferred and how access will be tested. Payment accounts and active subscriptions need a separate check with the systems that manage them. An archive-only project can exclude that work, but the exclusion should be explicit.

From WordPress to Ghost

Start with a handful of posts that use different blocks, embeds and shortcodes. A shortcode that depended on a WordPress plugin needs a new rendering rule or a replacement in Ghost. Copying the characters into a post would leave the reader looking at the shortcode itself.

Decide how categories and tags should work in the new publication, then check bylines, images and the article URL on a trial import. The WordPress to Ghost guide covers the migration boundary in more detail.

From Ghost to WordPress

Prepare the destination theme and content model before loading the archive. The WordPress editor, SEO fields and any membership plugin must have a defined place for the data you want to keep.

As an illustrative example, an article with two tags and a feature image needs more than a post row: the tags must resolve to the intended terms, the image must be accessible, and the theme must display it in the right place. Test the oldest and newest posts as well as one with more involved content. See Ghost to WordPress for the direction-specific scope.

Test the publication as a reader

Choose a public article and, where included, one restricted article. Visit each while signed out and with the appropriate test reader account. Compare the byline, original date, image, article path and permitted access with the agreed source behavior.

For a paid publication, record who will verify subscription continuity separately. A successful content import is not evidence that a payment or newsletter setup works. Keep these findings alongside the content checks, and use the URL map for old article links.

From sample posts to the publishing handover

1. 1. Define the move: Agree whether the project covers the archive, member-related records or both.
2. 2. Review sample posts: Check content formatting, bylines, tags, images, dates and URLs.
3. 3. Test reader access where included: Validate the agreed public and restricted-content behavior in the prepared destination.
4. 4. Schedule the handover: Coordinate publishing activity and the final transfer with the publication team.

Technical references

Scope is reviewed against the source and destination documentation available for the project.

• Ghost migration documentation