How Can I Backup My Site Data?

When performing manual updates it’s always recommended to make a full backup of your site first, so if anything goes wrong, you’ll still have all your data.

Using Ghost CLI backup

The fastest way to perform a backup is to use Ghost CLI to automatically generate a zip file containing all of your site data using the ghost backup command.

Manual backup methods

If you need more control over your backups, or need to back up a Docker installation, the following sections explain how to manually back up different parts of your Ghost site.

What’s included: The export from Ghost Admin is great for moving content between sites, but doesn’t include comments, member activity history, or your media files. For disaster recovery or exact site replication, back up your database and content folder directly.

Database backup

For Docker installations:

# Create a backup directory
mkdir -p ~/ghost-backups

# List containers to find your MySQL container
docker ps

# Export the database
docker exec MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME mysqldump -u root -p ghost > ~/ghost-backups/ghost_backup.sql

For standard Ghost CLI installations:

# Create a backup directory
mkdir -p ~/ghost-backups

# Export the database (credentials are in config.production.json)
mysqldump -u ghost_user -p ghost_production > ~/ghost-backups/ghost_backup.sql

Content folder backup

For Docker installations:

# Find your Ghost volume
docker volume ls

# Create a backup using a temporary container
docker run --rm \
  -v ghost_ghost_data:/ghost_content \
  -v ~/ghost-backups:/backup \
  alpine \
  tar czf /backup/ghost_content_backup.tar.gz -C /ghost_content .

For standard Ghost CLI installations:

# Create a compressed backup of content
cd /var/www/ghost
tar czf ~/ghost-backups/ghost_content_backup.tar.gz content/

Download to local machine

# Using rsync
rsync -av your_username@your_server:~/ghost-backups/ ./ghost-backups/

# Or using scp
scp -r your_username@your_server:~/ghost-backups/ ./ghost-backups/

Export from Ghost Admin

Log into Ghost Admin and go to Settings → Advanced → Import/Export. Open the Export tab and click All data.

The Export tab in Ghost Admin's migration tools, showing the All data and Post analytics buttons

Choose what to include, then click Export. Keep the dialog open until the download finishes.

The Export data dialog on a self-hosted site, with checkboxes for content & settings, members, post analytics, themes, and redirects & routes

Your browser downloads a single .zip file containing:

What you selected	File in the zip
Content & settings	`export.json`
Members	`members.csv`
Post analytics	`post-analytics.csv`
Themes	`themes/{theme-name}.zip` (one per installed theme)
Redirects & routes	`routes.yaml` and `redirects.yaml`

Copy images, files and media

To download images and media, you’ll need shell access to your server. If you’re unable to gain shell access to your current web host, you may need to contact their support team. When logged in to your server, cd to the content directory: cd /var/www/ghost/content Then, zip the images and other file storage directories with their contents: zip -r content-files.zip images/ files/ media/ Then, to move the zip files from your server onto your local machine: scp user@123.456.789.123:/var/www/ghost/content/content-files.zip ~/Desktop/content-files.zip

Restoring your data from a manual backup

Restoring database and content backups

If you backed up your MySQL database and content folder, follow these steps to restore them: For Docker installations:

# Stop Ghost
docker stop GHOST_CONTAINER_NAME

# Restore the database
docker exec -i MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME mysql -u root -p ghost < ~/ghost-backups/ghost_backup.sql

# Restore the content folder
docker run --rm \
  -v ghost_ghost_data:/ghost_content \
  -v ~/ghost-backups:/backup \
  alpine \
  tar xzf /backup/ghost_content_backup.tar.gz -C /ghost_content

# Start Ghost
docker start GHOST_CONTAINER_NAME

For standard Ghost CLI installations:

# Stop Ghost
cd /var/www/ghost
ghost stop

# Restore the database
mysql -u ghost_user -p ghost_production < ~/ghost-backups/ghost_backup.sql

# Restore the content folder
cd /var/www/ghost
tar xzf ~/ghost-backups/ghost_content_backup.tar.gz

# Fix permissions
sudo chown -R ghost:ghost content

# Restart Ghost
ghost restart

Copy images, files and media

All images, files and media need to be copied over to your new install. After doing that, run this command to fix permissions: sudo chown -R ghost:ghost content Once this is complete, restart Ghost: ghost restart

Import content

Unzip your export. Then go to Settings → Advanced → Import/Export in Ghost Admin, click Universal import on the Import tab, and select export.json.

Upload routes and redirects

Go to Settings → Advanced → Labs. Under Migration options, upload redirects.yaml and routes.yaml from your export.

Upload theme

Go to Settings → Site → Theme → Change theme, click Upload theme, and select the theme .zip from the themes folder in your export to get your site looking the same way it did before.

Reconnect Stripe

Skip this step if you’re not using Stripe for paid subscriptions. To import paid members, Ghost needs to be connected to Stripe in Live mode before you import your members. Make sure to connect Ghost to the same Stripe account you were using on your old installation - learn more about how to connect a Stripe account in this guide.

Import members

With Stripe connected, go to Members, click the settings icon, choose Import members, and select members.csv from your export. You’ll receive an email notification when the import process has completed.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Themes

Advanced Tools

Resources

Using Ghost CLI backup

Manual backup methods

Database backup

Content folder backup

Download to local machine

Export from Ghost Admin

Copy images, files and media

Restoring your data from a manual backup

Restoring database and content backups

Copy images, files and media

Import content

Upload routes and redirects

Upload theme

Reconnect Stripe

Import members

​Using Ghost CLI backup

​Manual backup methods

​Database backup

​Content folder backup

​Download to local machine

​Export from Ghost Admin

​Copy images, files and media

​Restoring your data from a manual backup

​Restoring database and content backups

​Copy images, files and media

​Import content

​Upload routes and redirects

​Upload theme

​Reconnect Stripe

​Import members

Using Ghost CLI backup

Manual backup methods

Database backup

Content folder backup

Download to local machine

Export from Ghost Admin

Copy images, files and media

Restoring your data from a manual backup

Restoring database and content backups

Copy images, files and media

Import content

Upload routes and redirects

Upload theme

Reconnect Stripe

Import members