Ghost Release: 4.12.0

TL;DR

Ghost v4.12.0: Email-Only Posts & Member Filtering Enhancements

Ghost 4.12.0 introduces email-only posts, allowing creators to send newsletters without publishing content to their site. This release also brings improved member filtering based on subscription data, enhanced email-CTA card customization, and various API refinements. These changes significantly improve the newsletter experience while maintaining content flexibility for publishers.

Highlight of the Release

• Email-only posts feature allowing newsletters to be sent without publishing content to the site
• Enhanced member filtering based on subscription data
• Improved email-CTA card with top/bottom divider and button alignment options
• New experimental dashboard with more comprehensive stats
• Fixed incorrect MRR value display on dashboard

Migration Guide

Email-Only Posts Feature

To use the new email-only posts feature:

1. Enable the emailOnlyPosts flag in Labs settings
2. When creating a post, you'll see a new option to make it email-only
3. When published, email-only posts will be sent to subscribers but won't appear in your site's content listings

Member Filtering

The enhanced member filtering capabilities are available in the Members section of your admin panel. You can now filter members based on subscription status, including trial and canceled subscriptions.

For Developers

If you've built custom integrations with Ghost's Posts or Pages APIs, be aware that there have been significant refactorings in this release. While these changes maintain backward compatibility, you may want to review your code if you're doing advanced integrations.

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a feature release with significant enhancements for newsletter publishers and site administrators. The upgrade is recommended for all users, especially those who:

• Use Ghost for newsletter publishing
• Need better member filtering capabilities
• Want access to improved email-CTA card customization

There are no breaking changes reported in this release, making it a safe upgrade for most users. As always, it's recommended to backup your database before upgrading.

How to Upgrade

Follow the standard Ghost upgrade process:

• For self-hosted installations, use the Ghost-CLI: ghost update
• For Ghost(Pro) users, the upgrade will be automatically applied

Bug Fixes

Fixed Admin API Issues

• Fixed Admin hitting dead API response on Stripe connect
• Fixed incorrect MRR value display on dashboard
• Fixed handling of members with canceled subscriptions who were incorrectly showing a status of 'comped'

Other Fixes

• Fixed HR element and button overlapping in CTA card in email template
• Fixed various code issues including missing semicolons and variable naming

New Features

Email-Only Posts

Ghost now supports creating posts that are sent exclusively as newsletters without being published on your site. This feature is available behind the emailOnlyPosts alpha labs flag and introduces a new post status called sent to track email-only posts that have been delivered.

Enhanced Member Filtering

You can now filter members based on their subscription data, including filtering for members with canceled subscriptions or those currently on trial periods.

Email-CTA Card Improvements

The email-CTA card now supports top/bottom dividers and button alignment options, giving you more control over the appearance of your newsletter CTAs.

New Dashboard (Experimental)

A new, more comprehensive dashboard is available behind the dashboardTwo labs flag. This experimental feature provides enhanced statistics and insights for your Ghost site.

Email Post Frontend Routing

Email-only posts that have been sent are now accessible through the /email/:slug/ route, maintaining content gating based on the post's visibility settings.

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

Code Refactoring

• Extracted post/page cache invalidation logic to a dedicated service
• Extracted post edit logic to posts service
• Refactored Posts API v2 controller and Pages API v2/v3/canary controllers
• Moved NQL relations and expansions into the models
• Refactored Members controller bulkDestroy method
• Added bulkEdit to bulk-operations bookshelf plugin

These refactorings improve code maintainability and set the foundation for better performance in future releases.

Impact Summary

Ghost 4.12.0 significantly enhances the platform's newsletter capabilities with the introduction of email-only posts, allowing creators to send content exclusively to subscribers without publishing it on their site. This feature addresses a common request from newsletter publishers who want to provide exclusive content to their email subscribers.

The release also improves member management with enhanced filtering based on subscription data, making it easier to segment and target specific member groups. The experimental new dashboard provides more comprehensive statistics, giving site administrators better insights into their site's performance.

For developers, the extensive code refactoring improves maintainability and sets the foundation for future enhancements. The extraction of post/page cache invalidation logic and post edit logic into dedicated services makes the codebase more modular and easier to maintain.

Overall, this release strengthens Ghost's position as a powerful platform for newsletter publishers while maintaining its flexibility for various content publishing needs.

Full Release Notes