Ghost Theme Deploy Action

A reusable Forgejo composite action that builds and deploys a Ghost theme via the Admin API.

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
ghost-url	Yes		Ghost site URL (e.g., https://www.example.com)
ghost-admin-api-key	Yes		Ghost Admin API key in id:secret format
build-command	No	npm ci && npx gulp zip	Command to install deps and build the theme zip
theme-name	No	(from package.json)	Override the theme name used for the zip filename and activation

Requirements

The runner environment must have node and curl available (e.g., node:22-slim container with curl installed).

The build command must produce a zip file at dist/<theme-name>.zip.

Usage

Basic (gulp-based theme)

# .forgejo/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy theme to Ghost
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: docker
    container:
      image: node:22-slim
    steps:
      - name: Setup
        run: apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq git curl > /dev/null

      - name: Checkout
        run: |
          git config --global --add safe.directory "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
          git clone "https://ci:${{ github.token }}@git.brads.house/${{ github.repository }}.git" "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"

      - name: Deploy to Ghost
        uses: actions/ghost-deploy@v1
        with:
          ghost-url: https://www.example.com
          ghost-admin-api-key: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY }}

Custom build command

      - name: Deploy to Ghost
        uses: actions/ghost-deploy@v1
        with:
          ghost-url: https://other-site.com
          ghost-admin-api-key: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY }}
          build-command: 'yarn install && yarn zip'

Override theme name

      - name: Deploy to Ghost
        uses: actions/ghost-deploy@v1
        with:
          ghost-url: https://www.example.com
          ghost-admin-api-key: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY }}
          theme-name: my-custom-name

How it works

1. Runs your build command (default: npm ci && npx gulp zip)
2. Reads the theme name from package.json (or uses your override)
3. Creates a short-lived JWT from the Admin API key
4. Uploads dist/<theme-name>.zip to the Ghost Admin API
5. Activates the uploaded theme