How to update Ghost

Learn how to update your self-hosted Ghost install to the latest version

Our team release updates to the open source software every week, and you can find out whether new updates are available any time by running ghost check-update.

If you’re already running the latest major version (5.x) - update using Ghost CLI with two commands:

1. Run ghost backup to generate a full backup of your site data
2. Then, run ghost update ✨

Updating to the latest major version

If you’re not yet on the latest major version, there are two recommended methods for updating your Ghost install, depending on what version you’re currently on, and what type of database you’re using in production. Below is a full breakdown of the the recommended update paths.

Updates are recommended for sites that are:

• Running Ghost version 3.0.0 or higher and are using MySQL in production
• Development sites using any database

A full reinstall of Ghost is recommended for sites that are:

• Running on a Ghost version less than 3.0.0
• Using SQLite3 in production on any Ghost version

If you’re using MariaDB it is recommended to migrate to MySQL 8 - read more about supported databases.