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Outpost Events lets you create events that members register for directly on your Ghost site. Events are managed in the Outpost dashboard and published to Ghost as posts with an embedded registration widget.
Screenshot of Events Beta in Labs
This flow handles webinars, in-person events, virtual meetups, and any other registration-driven event your publication runs.
Screenshot of Events Beta entry

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How to

  1. Create an event in the Outpost dashboard by clicking the blue Create Event button. Fill in a name, date, time, and access settings (including link and image if applicatble). Save, then the Create Draft Post in Ghost button will appear. This will open a draft post with an embedded registration code.
    Event Creator Draft Post Button
    You should see confirmation in the top right corner after saving:
    Confirmation of saved event
    After saving, the “Create Draft Post” button will change into one that opens the draft page in a new tab:
    Button to open draft post in Ghost
  2. Publish to Ghost — Fill in any additional information you would like to share with your readers in the draft post that’s created, then publish to Ghost.
    Events Draft Post
    Note: It may not look like your event is there in the draft post of editor, but you can see the information you entered in your OCC is being stored in the Code Injection section of the post to be displayed in your event widget after publishing (if you’ve made changes to your template to display events).
    Events Code Injection
  3. Members register via the on-page widget, which handles login, access checks, and RSVP.
  4. Calendar links appear after registration so attendees can save the event.
  5. Attendee tracking records registrations and cancellations.
  6. Event countdown displays a live countdown to the event start time.

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Creating an event

Go to Events (beta) under the Labs group in the left navigation (pictured below) and click Create Event.
Events Beta in the Outpost Labs Menu
Create event button
If your theme defines event types (e.g., “In-Person”, “Webinar”, “Virtual”), you’ll select the type first — this determines which fields and settings are available.

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Event details

FieldDescription
NameThe event title. Required.
SlugAuto-generated from the name when you first save. Locked after that — the on-page Slug field is the event’s permanent identifier and won’t change if you rename the event later.
Short DescriptionOptional excerpt displayed in event listings.
Event DateThe date of the event. Required.
Start TimeWhen the event starts. Required.
End TimeWhen the event ends. Optional — if blank, Outpost falls back to the start time when deciding whether the event has passed.
Time ZoneChoose from all major IANA time zones.
LocationWhere the event takes place (e.g., “Online”, a venue name).
Event Platform URLOptional link to the event platform (e.g., Zoom).
Max AttendeesOptional cap on registrations. Leave blank for unlimited.

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Registration settings

FieldDescription
Featured ImageUpload an event image. Recommended dimensions are shown from your theme settings.
Registration DeadlineOptional cutoff date and time for new registrations. If blank, registration stays open until the event ends.
Who Can RegisterThree options: All Members (Free + Paid), Free Members Only, or Paid Subscribers Only.
Label RegistrantsAutomatically apply selected labels to members who register.

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Event lifecycle

Events transition automatically through three states based on dates and times:
1

Registration Open

The event date is in the future and the registration deadline (if set) hasn’t passed. Members can RSVP.
2

Registration Closed

The registration deadline has passed but the event hasn’t happened yet. New RSVPs are blocked.
3

Event Passed

The event date has passed and the end time (or start time, if no end time was set) has come and gone. The widget shows a past-event message.

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Attendee management

Once an event has registrations, the event detail page shows an Attendees section with:
  • Member name and email
  • Registration timestamp (Registered At)
  • Export CSV button to download the attendee list (Name, Email, Registered At)
Each registration also carries a status under the hood (registered, cancelled, attended). Today the page shows registered attendees and removes the row when a member cancels — there is no per-attendee status badge or attendance-marking control in the UI yet.
After registering, members see calendar buttons to add the event to their preferred platform:
  • ICS File Download (Apple Calendar, Outlook desktop)
  • Google Calendar
  • Outlook Web
  • Yahoo Calendar
Choose which platforms to display in Event Settings → Default Messaging → Registered → Show calendar links.

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What gets added to the calendar

Every platform receives the same core information, derived from the event you published:
Calendar fieldSource
Title{Site Name}: {Event Name} — your site’s name precedes the event title so members can spot the source at a glance when they have many events on their calendar.
Start / endThe event’s start and end times, converted to UTC. If you set a start time but no end time, the entry uses your site’s Default duration (60 minutes by default).
Time zoneThe per-event time zone if set, otherwise your site’s time zone, then UTC as a final fallback.
LocationThe event’s location, or your site’s Default location if the event has none.
DescriptionFrom {Site Name} followed by the event description (if one exists). The site attribution is always included, even when the event has no description text.
StatusCONFIRMED (ICS only). Not exposed by the Google, Outlook Web, or Yahoo URL formats.
Event linkA URL: line back to the event page on your site (ICS only). The Google, Outlook, and Yahoo handoff URLs don’t include a separate link field; the description carries it instead if you reference it there.

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ICS file specifics

The ICS download produces a standards-compliant file (RFC 5545) that Apple Calendar, Outlook desktop, Thunderbird, and other clients can import directly. Each entry includes: 
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Outpost//Events//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:<UTC start>
DTEND:<UTC end>
SUMMARY:<Site Name>: <Event Name>
LOCATION:<location>
DESCRIPTION:From <Site Name>\n\n<event description>
STATUS:CONFIRMED
UID:<event guid>@outpost
URL:<link back to the event page>
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
Carriage returns and other special characters in the site name, event name, location, and description are escaped per the RFC so the file always opens cleanly, even if a publisher pastes content with stray line breaks.

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Google, Outlook, and Yahoo handoffs

These three buttons don’t generate a file — they open the platform’s “create event” form pre-filled via URL parameters. Every form receives:
  • The site-prefixed title ({Site Name}: {Event Name}).
  • The event start and end times in UTC.
  • The location.
  • The description with the From {Site Name} attribution.
The exact URL parameters are:
PlatformEndpointParameters
Googlecalendar.google.com/calendar/renderaction=TEMPLATE, text, dates, details, location
Outlookoutlook.live.com/calendar/0/deeplink/composepath, rru=addevent, subject, startdt, enddt, body, location
Yahoocalendar.yahoo.com/v=60, title, st, et, desc, in_loc
These platforms don’t expose a separate STATUS or URL field via their compose URLs, so members get the title, time, location, and description; if you want the event page link to be discoverable from the calendar entry, include it in your event description.

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Ghost integration

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Publishing

When you publish an event from Outpost, a Ghost post is created (or updated) with:
  • The event name as the post title.
  • A placeholder body with a <div class="outpost-ghost-event-container"/> element where the registration widget renders, plus the prompt “Put your event description here” — replace this with your own copy in Ghost.
  • A JSON payload of event details in the post’s codeinjection_foot for themes to read (date, time, access level, registration state).
  • A custom post template if you’ve configured one in Event Settings or your theme manifest.
  • The featured image uploaded to Ghost (uploaded once, on first sync).

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Automatic ordering

Ghost normally displays posts by publish date, not event date. Outpost automatically reorders event posts so they appear in chronological event-date order on your site.

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Theme support

Compatible Ghost themes (like Gazet) read event details from the codeinjection_foot payload to display event information, registration status, and sign-up buttons natively. The registration widget uses your AutoDisplay CTA design settings (accent colors, button styles, fonts).
The widget needs the theme to render codeinjection_foot and to keep the placeholder <div> in the post body. If the theme strips foot code injection, or if the placeholder div is deleted in the Ghost editor, the widget won’t appear.

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RSVP labels

When a member registers, Outpost adds a label to their member record so you can segment and filter event attendees in both Outpost and Ghost. The label is built from the event name and the month it was created — for example, an event named “Spring Webinar” created in March 2026 produces the label ZZZ_RSVP_spring_webinar_2026_03. The label is set once when the event is created. Renaming the event later does not update the label — existing registrants keep their original label, and new registrants receive the same label as everyone else on the event. Labels are removed automatically when a member cancels their registration.

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Event countdown

When an event has a date and start time configured, Outpost generates a live countdown displayed on the event page. The countdown adapts based on how far away the event is:
  • More than a day away — shows days and hours (e.g., “3d 5h”).
  • Less than a day — shows hours and minutes (e.g., “2h 30m”).
  • Less than an hour — shows minutes only (e.g., “45m”).
The countdown disappears once the event start time has passed. It respects the event’s configured time zone.

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Event settings

Open global event defaults by clicking the Settings button on the Events list page.
SettingDescription
Default TagsGhost tags applied to all event posts. Multi-select — pick any number of tags.
Default TemplateCustom Ghost post template for event pages.
Featured Image SizeRecommended width and height (in pixels) shown on the upload form.
Calendar PlatformsWhich calendar link buttons to show after registration.
Use AutoDisplay DesignInherit CTA styling from your AutoDisplay settings.

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Default messaging

Event Settings includes customizable messaging templates for each audience state:
StateWhen it shows
Can RegisterEligible member who hasn’t registered yet.
Login Required (Free)Guest visitor on a free event.
Login Required (Paid)Guest visitor on a paid event.
Upgrade RequiredFree member viewing a paid event.
Registered/ConfirmedMember who has RSVP’d — includes calendar links, share options, and cancel button.
Registration ClosedAnyone viewing after the deadline.
Event PassedAnyone viewing after the event.
Each state has configurable text and toggles. Per-event overrides take priority over site-level defaults.

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Event emails

Outpost can send emails to registrants at key moments in the event lifecycle. Event emails are managed through the Basic Autoresponder and use the same template system as other autoresponder actions.

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Enabling event emails

Event emails are controlled at two levels:
  1. Site-level toggle — Enable or disable event emails for your entire publication in Event Settings. Must be on for any event emails to send.
  2. Per-event override — Individual events can disable emails even when the site-level toggle is on. Useful for informal events where you don’t want automated notifications.

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Email types

EmailWhen it sendsRecipient
ConfirmationImmediately when a member registers.Registrant
Reminder 1Configurable hours before the event (default: 24 hours).All registered members
Reminder 2Configurable hours before the event (default: 2 hours).All registered members
Event UpdatedWhen event details change after members have registered.All registered members
Event CancelledWhen an event is cancelled.All registered members
Post-Event RecapAfter the event ends (within 3 days).Publisher/staff
Confirmation emails send regardless of a member’s email opt-out preference — they’re transactional. Reminder emails respect the member’s email preferences and will not send to members who have opted out.

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Reminder configuration

Reminders are set at the site level in Event Settings and can be overridden per event:
SettingDefaultDescription
Reminder count2How many reminders to send (0, 1, or 2).
Reminder 1 timing24 hours beforeWhen to send the first reminder.
Reminder 2 timing2 hours beforeWhen to send the second reminder.
Reminders run on an hourly schedule with a 3-hour send window. The window is asymmetric: a reminder configured for “24 hours before” can fire any time from 25 hours to 22 hours before the event start.

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Tracked fields for the update email

Outpost watches six fields and prompts you to send the Event Updated email if any of them change after registrations exist:
  • Event Date
  • Start Time
  • End Time
  • Time Zone
  • Location
  • Event Platform URL
The update prompt tells you which fields changed and how many registrants would be notified, so you can decide whether to send.

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Customizing event email templates

Each event email has its own template in the Basic Autoresponder. Templates support event-specific merge tags:
Merge tagWhat it inserts
%EVENT_NAME%The event name.
%EVENT_DATE%The event date.
%EVENT_TIME%The start time (and end time when set).
%EVENT_LOCATION%The location field.
%EVENT_JOIN_LINK%The Event Platform URL.
%EVENT_DESCRIPTION%The short description.
%EVENT_URL%Link to the event page on your Ghost site.
%EVENT_CALENDAR_GOOGLE%Add-to-Google-Calendar link.
%EVENT_CALENDAR_ICS%ICS file download link.
%EVENT_CALENDAR_OUTLOOK%Outlook Web add-to-calendar link.
%EVENT_CALENDAR_YAHOO%Yahoo Calendar add-to-calendar link.
%EVENT_CANCEL_LINK%Link the member can use to cancel their registration.
Event templates also support the standard member, site, and subscription merge fields — plus fallback syntax for empty values like %SUBSCRIBER_FIRST_NAME%,fallback="there". See Email templates for the full reference.
Edit templates in Autoresponder > Basic — event email actions appear alongside other autoresponder actions.

Event Creator

Create reusable event HTML widgets to embed in Ghost posts.

Theme Connect Wizard

Connect your Ghost theme to enable event widgets and other Outpost features.

Labels

RSVP labels are auto-applied when members register for events.

Basic Autoresponder

Configure event email templates and reminder timing.

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FAQ

Events (this page) creates full Ghost-integrated events with registration, attendee tracking, and lifecycle management. Event Creator is a simpler tool for creating reusable event HTML widgets that you paste into Ghost posts — no registration or attendee tracking.
Yes. Set the Max Attendees field when creating an event. Once the cap is reached, new registrations are blocked.
Open the event detail page, scroll to the Attendees section, and click Export CSV. The export includes name, email, and registration timestamp.
The registration widget works on any theme as long as the theme renders codeinjection_foot and the placeholder <div class="outpost-ghost-event-container"/> is left in the post body. Themes specifically built for Outpost (like Gazet) provide richer event rendering using the metadata Outpost injects.
Outpost updates the Ghost post and reorders all event posts so they display in chronological event-date order. If event emails are enabled and members have registered, Outpost detects the change and offers to send an update notification to all registrants.
Go to Event Settings and turn on the event emails toggle. Then make sure the corresponding actions are enabled in your Basic Autoresponder. You can also disable emails for individual events without turning off the site-wide setting.
Yes. The default is two reminders: 24 hours and 2 hours before the event. You can change the timing and the count (0, 1, or 2) in Event Settings, and override these settings on individual events.
Yes. Confirmation emails are transactional and send regardless of email preferences. Reminder emails respect opt-out preferences and won’t go to members who have unsubscribed.