Ghost Release: 5.88.0

TL;DR

Ghost v5.88.0: Performance Improvements & Bug Fixes

This release brings significant performance improvements to the posts list in the admin interface, making content management more efficient. It also adds staff notifications for subscription cancellations due to failed payments, fixes several critical bugs in the admin interface, and improves email rendering for blockquotes across different email clients. The update includes various dependency updates and enhancements to the editor.

Highlight of the Release

• Significantly improved performance when loading the posts list in admin
• Added staff notifications for subscription cancellations due to failed payments
• Fixed blockquote rendering in emails for better compatibility across email clients
• Fixed critical admin UI bugs including crashes and rendering issues
• Added 90 days filter option to Top Sources Admin Dashboard

Migration Guide

No migration steps are required for this update. The release focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes that should work seamlessly after updating.

Upgrade Recommendations

This update is recommended for all Ghost users, especially those who:

• Manage sites with large numbers of posts and experience slowdowns in the admin interface
• Send newsletters with blockquote content and want improved rendering across email clients
• Need staff notifications for subscription cancellations due to failed payments
• Have experienced crashes when managing tier benefits

The update contains no breaking changes and should be a smooth upgrade from previous versions.

Bug Fixes

• Admin Interface Fixes:

  • Fixed admin crashing when deleting a tier benefit that was last moved
  • Fixed member subscription details not rendering properly for active/canceled subscriptions
  • Fixed publishing issue that prevented users from archiving their last active newsletter

• Email Rendering Improvements:

  • Fixed blockquote spacing on iOS Mail app by enforcing nested <p> tags inside <blockquote> elements
  • Fixed blockquote horizontal spacing on Outlook by using margin instead of padding
  • Enforced nested <p> tags when rendering <blockquote> for Aside nodes in email

• Reverted Changes:

  • Reverted "Added custom redirects ReDoS validation" as it was causing custom redirects to not be loaded on boot

New Features

• Enhanced Staff Notifications: Added notifications when subscriptions are canceled due to failed payments. This expands notification coverage to include:

  • Member cancellations via Portal (existing)
  • Staff cancellations via Stripe (new)
  • Staff cancellations via Admin (new)
  • Automatic cancellations by Stripe due to failed payments (new)
  • Updated notification email copy to distinguish between manual vs automatic and immediate vs end-of-period cancellations

• 90 Days Filter for Analytics: Added a 90-day filter option to the Top Sources Admin Dashboard query, providing more flexibility in analyzing traffic sources.

• Bosnian Language Support: Published new versions of apps (comments-ui, signup-form, portal) to support the Bosnian (BS) locale.

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

• Posts List Loading: Significantly improved performance when loading the posts list in the admin interface. This enhancement builds upon previously reverted changes, now with proper test coverage to ensure functionality.

• Editor Optimizations: Updated Lexical and TipTap dependencies to newer versions with performance improvements.

• Testing Improvements:

  • Added posts bulk action Admin tests for better coverage
  • Extended timeouts on image size tests to address flakiness in CI environments

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.88.0 delivers notable improvements to the admin experience with faster post list loading and fixed UI bugs. Newsletter publishers will benefit from improved email rendering across different email clients, particularly for blockquotes. The addition of staff notifications for failed payment cancellations enhances subscription management visibility. This release focuses on quality-of-life improvements rather than major new features, making the Ghost CMS more stable and efficient for day-to-day content operations. The performance improvements to the posts list will be particularly impactful for sites with large content libraries.

Full Release Notes