Before the wizard
Prerequisites:
- A Ghost site on Ghost 5.x or later
- Admin access to your Ghost dashboard
1
Create your Outpost account
Go to outpost.pub and click Get Started. You’ll enter your email address, your Ghost site URL, and create a password. Outpost verifies your Ghost site and creates your account.
2
Connect your Ghost site
During account creation, Outpost prompts you to connect Ghost. You’ll create a custom integration in your Ghost admin panel and copy three values into Outpost:
- Content API Key
- Admin API Key
- API URL
The setup wizard
The wizard adapts to the Outpost plan you choose and to whether you’re charging for subscriptions. You can switch between Basic setup (the essentials) and Advanced setup (everything, including extra automations and group/gift subscriptions) at any point during onboarding. The full list of possible steps, in order:1
Choose Your Plan
Pick the Outpost subscription plan that fits your needs: Space Station, Voyager, or Luna. The wizard then only shows steps available on the plan you picked. Many advanced steps below are gated to Voyager or Luna.
2
About Your Site
Tell Outpost what kind of publication you run (Local News, Non-Profit, Co-op / Collective, Solo Creator, or News Organization). This tunes a few defaults later in the wizard.
3
Paid Memberships
Indicate whether you have or plan to have paid subscriptions. If you choose “no,” the wizard skips Stripe-dependent steps.
4
Payment Method
Add a payment method to activate your Outpost subscription. Skipped if your site already has one on file.
5
Email Settings
Set your Email from address and Email from Name. These are used for every automated email Outpost sends. You don’t need to configure Mailgun: Outpost routes email automatically, even without a custom sending domain. Setting up DNS is recommended for deliverability but not required to start (and Luna users can do it later in the Email DNS step).
6
Welcome Flow
Configure a welcome email sequence for new free subscribers. You choose how many emails to send (1–5).
7
Newsletter Frequency
Tell Outpost how often you publish newsletters: multiple times daily, daily, daily Monday–Friday plus a weekend edition, a few times a week, weekly, or occasional. Outpost uses this to set sensible default timing for your welcome flow.
8
Welcome Discounts
Shown only when Stripe is connected and you’re charging. Add an ascending discount offer to each welcome email to encourage upgrades. Outpost suggests sensible defaults. For example, with five welcome emails the defaults step from 10% to 33%. Smaller email counts get shorter discount ladders. You can change any of them.
9
Retention Offers
Voyager and Luna only, with Stripe. Configure smart retention offers that win subscribers back when they cancel.
10
Failed Payment Flow
Voyager and Luna only, with Stripe. Enables an escalating series of emails to members whose renewal payment fails. Recovers a substantial share of revenue lost to expired or declined cards.
11
Complimentary Offers
Voyager and Luna only, with Stripe. Configure renewal-style offers for complimentary subscribers.
12
Abandoned Cart Nudge
Voyager+, Stripe, Advanced setup only. Re-engage subscribers who started checkout but didn’t complete it.
13
Card Expiring Reminder
Voyager+, Stripe, Advanced setup only. Notify subscribers ahead of time when their saved payment method is about to expire.
14
Theme Setup
Voyager and Luna. Connect your Ghost theme to Outpost so paywalls, CTAs, and gated content render correctly. See Theme Connect Wizard.
15
Tip Jar
All plans. Outpost creates a donation page so readers can leave one-time tips. Voyager and Luna also get the Tip Jar Settings form on this step. See Tip Jar.
16
Gift Subscriptions
Voyager+, with Stripe, Advanced setup. Let readers gift subscriptions to friends and family.
17
Group Subscriptions
Voyager+, with Stripe, Advanced setup. Enable multi-seat subscriptions for organizations.
18
CTA Settings
Voyager+, Advanced setup. Configure default Auto-Display CTA behavior.
19
Metered Access
Voyager and Luna, Advanced setup. Set free-article limits for non-subscribers.
20
Email DNS
Luna, Advanced setup. Walks you through setting up DNS records for a custom sending domain. Only this guided step is limited to Luna. A custom sending domain is available on every plan, and you can set one up any time under Email Settings > DNS Settings.
21
Plausible Analytics
Voyager and Luna. Connect privacy-friendly Plausible analytics. Included with Outpost; normally $9+/month direct from Plausible.
22
All Done
Outpost confirms your setup is complete and points you at the next things to review.
Coming back to the wizard
You can leave the wizard and come back to it. Your place in the flow is saved for the browser session, and every setting you already saved on a step stays saved. The Basic / Advanced toggle is sticky too: switch to Advanced if you want to see the extra automation, gift, group, CTA, and metered-access steps. You can also land back in the wizard long after your site is set up, usually after reconnecting Stripe. When that happens, Outpost shows a banner at the top of the wizard: “You are reviewing settings for an already-configured site. Your existing settings have been loaded.” Each step loads your current settings before you see it, and Outpost saves a step only when you change something on it. Reading a step and clicking Continue leaves that step’s settings alone. Four steps are worth a second look on the way through:- Choose Your Plan sets your Outpost plan. Your current plan is already selected, so change the selection here only if you mean to change plans.
- Email Settings fills Email from Name with your site name if you have left it blank, and saves that when you continue.
- Gift Subscriptions saves every time you continue past it, whether or not you changed anything, as long as Stripe is connected and gift subscriptions are turned on. Outpost saves your gift pricing to Stripe as part of this step, so Continue waits for that save and keeps you on the step if it does not go through. Your existing amounts are saved back as they stand, so leaving them alone changes nothing.
- Plausible Analytics will not let you continue until you use the setup button on the step, and what that means depends on your plan. On Luna, Plausible is included and turned on for you, so Continue is disabled from the moment the step opens and the button is the only way forward. On Voyager, the Enable Plausible Analytics switch is already on if Plausible is connected to your site, and Continue is disabled whenever that switch is on, so you can either use the button or turn the switch off. The button opens the setup instructions in your Ghost site, and it connects Plausible only if it isn’t connected already.
What the wizard sets up for you
Depending on the plan you choose and whether Stripe is connected, the wizard configures these things automatically:After the wizard
Head to the Autoresponder tab to review the generated emails. We recommend:- Customizing each email to match your voice and style. Spend the most time on your welcome emails.
- Sending a few test emails to yourself.
- Prioritize the welcome flow, renewal notifications, retention offers, and the failed payment flow: these have the highest impact.
- Turning on actions individually rather than all at once.
- Turning on some Auto-Display CTAs.
What’s next
Once you’re set up, explore these features to get the most from Outpost:Auto Display CTAs
Add signup forms, popups, and slide-ups to your site
Metered Walls
Limit free article views to drive registrations and upgrades
Members
View, search, and manage your subscriber list
Offers & Discounts
Create promotional pricing beyond what the wizard set up
Report Emails
Daily performance reports delivered to your inbox
Advanced Autoresponder
Build custom multi-step email flows for any scenario