> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ghost.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Update Ghost To The Latest Major Version

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

***

Before updating to a new major version, you must update your site to the latest minor version, e.g if you are on 4.23.0 you need to be on 4.48.9 before updating to v6. You also need to make sure that your setup meets all the latest requirements. This guide will take you through everything step-by-step.

**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

<Note>
  The web analytics feature is not compatible with Ghost-CLI. There is a docker-based hosting method currently in preview, which includes a migration tool for Ghost CLI sites: [check it out](/install/docker).
</Note>

## Switch user

Switch to the user you used to setup your Ghost install for running Ghost commands:

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
sudo -i -u <user>
```

## Update Node

Run `node -v` to check your node version.

If less than 22, update node:

```bash theme={"dark"}
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -

sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
```

## Update Ghost CLI

Ghost-CLI is an npm module that can be updated using npm:

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
sudo npm install -g ghost-cli@latest
```

You can run `ghost -v` to see what version of Ghost-CLI you have. For Ghost 6.0, it's best to have [v1.28.2](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost-CLI/releases/tag/v1.28.2) or higher.

## Update to the latest minor version

Before updating to a new major version, you must update your site to the latest minor version and not be more than 2 majors behind.

First, perform a  backup of your site: `ghost backup`

Then, update to the latest minor version:

* On Ghost 3.0 run `ghost update v3` and then `ghost update v4`
* On Ghost 4.0 run `ghost update v4`
* On Ghost 5.0 run `ghost update v5`

If Ghost is not already running, run `ghost start`, then login to Ghost Admin and check this update has worked before continuing.

## Make a full backup

When performing manual updates it’s a good idea to make frequent backups, so if anything goes wrong, you’ll still have all your data.

Once you’re running the latest minor version, make a full backup using the following command to generate a download of your site’s data:

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
ghost backup
```

This creates a backup zip file of everything you need, including:

* Your content in JSON format
* A full member CSV export
* All themes that have been installed including your current active theme
* Images, files, and media (video and audio)
* A copy of `routes.yaml` and `redirects.yaml` or `redirects.json`

Read more about how to [manually download your site data](/faq/manual-backup/).

## Check MySQL version

MySQL 8 is the only supported database in production. Use the following commands to check your database version:

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
ghost config database.client
```

This should output `sqlite3` or `mysql`. If it says mysql, run `mysql --version` to find the details of your mysql install.

If you’re already running MySQL 8, proceed to the next steps. Otherwise, [read more](/faq/supported-databases/) about how to update or migrate your database if you’re using any other version.

## Review breaking changes

Major versions often contain [breaking changes](/changes) that impact themes and the API.

Ghost CLI will output a report with any theme incompatibility errors and recommendations, or you can upload your theme directly to the [GScan](https://gscan.ghost.org/) theme testing tool.

If you make use of the API e.g. in themes, custom integrations or on a headless site, you should carefully review changes to the API before updating to ensure you don't need to update your custom tooling first. For example in Ghost 6.0 we've removed support for `?limit=all` and many integrations may need to add pagination in order to handle this.

## Get ActivityPub ready

If you'd like to use the social web features, you can use the Ghost(Pro) hosted ActivityPub service.

This is done by adding two new location blocks to your nginx.conf file as shown [here](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost-CLI/blob/main/extensions/nginx/templates/nginx.conf#L13-L31).

The file can be found in:

```bash theme={"dark"}
path/to/ghost/install/system/files/[your-domain].conf
```

The two blocks to add are (exactly):

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
 location ~ /.ghost/activitypub/* {
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options $header_content_type_options;
    proxy_ssl_server_name on;
    proxy_pass https://ap.ghost.org;
}

location ~ /.well-known/(webfinger|nodeinfo) {
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options $header_content_type_options;
    proxy_ssl_server_name on;
    proxy_pass https://ap.ghost.org;
}
```

They should be added just before the standard location block.

Then reload nginx with your new config

```bash theme={"dark"}
sudo nginx -s reload
```

If you want to fully self-host the ActivityPub service, or self-host the web analytics features, you'll need to try to try out the [docker compose preview](/install/docker).

## Update to the latest major version

Finally, you can now run the update command again to upgrade to the latest major version:

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
ghost update
```

## Troubleshooting

The most common reason for an update failure is running out of memory, so make sure you have enough RAM or swap configured in advance.

### Find your Ghost folder

Run the `ghost ls` command anywhere on your server to find the details of your Ghost install.

### Download your backup

If you need to move your backup between machines, run the `scp` command on the machine you want to move the file *to:*

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
scp user@123.456.789.123:/var/www/ghost/backup-from[...].zip ~/Desktop
```

### Force update

If an update fails you can start by forcing a retry to attempt the upgrade a second time.

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
ghost update --force
```

### Rollback

If something goes wrong, you can always revert to the previous stable version of Ghost.

```shellscript theme={"dark"}
ghost update --rollback
```

If you’re still having trouble, start by searching the\*\*[Ghost forum](https://forum.ghost.org/)\*\*to see if your issue has come up before.

### Downgrade Node

If you need to downgrade Node, these are the steps:

```bash theme={"dark"}
sudo apt-get remove -y nodejs
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
```