Chapter 15: Creating the Ghost Project with Docker Compose

Now that Docker and Docker Compose are installed and working, it’s time to deploy your blog platform, Ghost!

Ghost is modern, fast, and perfect for personal blogs or professional content. With Docker Compose, you’ll have it running in just a few commands.

Step 1: Create the Project Directory

We’ll keep everything organized in one folder.

mkdir ~/ghost
cd ~/ghost

Step 2: Create the docker-compose.yml File

Inside the ~/ghost folder, create the file:

vim docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'  # Compose file format version

services:
  ghost:
    image: ghost:5-alpine  # Use Ghost CMS version 5 based on Alpine Linux (lightweight)
    container_name: ghost  # Name the container "ghost"
    restart: always        # Automatically restart the container if it crashes or the server reboots

    ports:
      - 8080:2368          # Map host port 8080 to container port 2368 (Ghost default)

    environment:
      url: https://root.hexacats.cloud  # Public URL where Ghost will be accessible
      database__client: mysql           # Database type: MySQL
      database__connection__host: dockerlab-mariadb  # Hostname of the MariaDB/MySQL container
      database__connection__user: ghostuser          # Database username
      database__connection__password: <db_password>  # Database password (replace with real one)
      database__connection__database: ghost          # Database name to be used by Ghost
      NODE_ENV: production                           # Run in production mode
      mail: '{"transport":"SMTP","options":{"host":"smtp.gmail.com","port":587,"secure":false,"auth":{"user":"<mail_account>","pass":"<mail_password>"}},"from":"mail_account"}'
      # Mail settings in JSON format for sending emails via Gmail SMTP

    volumes:
      - ghost-data:/var/lib/ghost/content  # Persist Ghost content (images, themes, etc.) in a named volume

    networks:
      - dockerlab-network  # Attach this container to an external network for communication with the DB

volumes:
  ghost-data:  # Define the named volume used to persist Ghost content

networks:
  dockerlab-network:
    external: true  # Use an existing Docker network named "dockerlab-network"

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain.

docker-compose up -d     # Start the container in detached mode
docker ps                # Check running containers

Run docker compose up, wait for it to initialize completely, and visit http://host-ip:8080