Install Theme

This section walks you through every step required to install and activate in your Ghost site—so even if you’re new to Ghost or web publishing, you’ll have a smooth experience.

Ghost uses a web-based admin dashboard to install and manage themes. You will need your website’s Ghost Admin URL and admin access (admin email and admin password).

Typically the admin URL looks like: https://example.com/ghost

Step 1 — Prepare Your Theme ZIP File

1. Download from the source you purchased it (e.g. LemonSqueezy, Gumroad, etc).

2. The downloaded file should be a .zip archive containing:

   • The full theme

   • The routes.yaml file (important for custom member pages)

   Make sure the .zip file hasn’t been unzipped yet. Ghost can only install ZIP archives.

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Step 2 — Log In to Ghost Admin

1. Open your web browser.

2. Go to your Ghost admin dashboard by entering your site’s Ghost URL. It usually looks like: https://example.com/ghost

3. Enter your admin username/email and password.

4. Once logged in, you will see the main Ghost dashboard.

Ghost Admin

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Step 3 — Navigate to the Theme Upload Section

Ghost organizes appearance and theme controls under Site settings group:

1. In the left-hand sidebar, click Settings (usually a gear ⚙️ icon).

   

   Settings icon in Ghost Admin

2. From Settings, select Theme.

3. On right side, click on Change Theme link, which will open a popup to upload a new theme.

   

   Change Theme link

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Step 4 — Upload the Theme ZIP

Once you’re on the theme upload screen:

1. Click Upload a theme.

2. A file dialog will open.

   

   Upload theme .zip file

   • You can either drag and drop your ZIP file into the box

   • Or click the upload area and select the file from your computer

3. Wait for the upload to complete. You’ll see a progress indicator, and then a notification like “Upload successful”.

   

   Activate the newly uploaded theme

4. Click the Activate button to activate the new theme now.

If the Upload button is disabled or not visible, confirm you have the correct permissions and, for Ghost(Pro) users, that your Ghost plan supports custom themes (most do, except some very limited starter plans).

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Step 5 — Manage installed themes

After the upload finishes:

1. Ghost will show the theme name for under Installed Themes.

2. You should see three options:

   • Activate (if not already activated in Step-4)

   • Download (which lets you save theme's .zip file locally)

   • Delete which will delete that theme from Ghost CMS.

Delete option is not available for the currently active theme and default themes (Source/Casper).

Manage installed themes

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Step 6 — Verify It’s Live

1. After activation, click View your site or open a new browser tab to your main domain (e.g., https://example.com).

2. You should now see your site rendered with ’s design and layout.

3. It will look very empty as we have not added any content. In next sections, we will see on how to add content which will show up in different places on the website.