Ghost Release: 5.89.0

TL;DR

Ghost v5.89.0: Performance Boost & Bug Fixes

This release significantly improves admin performance when loading posts and pages, fixes several critical bugs in the Portal experience, and addresses issues with YouTube live embeds. The update also enhances the ActivityPub integration, improves member management safety, and fixes various UI issues in the admin interface. This release focuses on performance, stability, and user experience improvements across the platform.

Highlight of the Release

• Significantly improved performance when loading posts and pages in the admin interface
• Fixed YouTube live embeds that were failing due to localization issues
• Enhanced Portal experience with proper redirects after sign-in
• Added safety measures for bulk member deletion when using multiple filters
• Improved ActivityPub integration with better support for Mastodon content

Migration Guide

Bulk Member Deletion with Multiple Filters

When using multiple member filters in combination, bulk deletion has been temporarily disabled due to NQL limitations that could result in incorrect members being returned. This is a safety measure while the team works on addressing the underlying NQL limitation. No migration steps are required, but administrators should be aware of this temporary limitation.

Testing Migrations

For developers creating migrations, a reminder has been added to the migration review checklist to test migrations in both SQLite and MySQL databases, as Knex can behave differently with each database type.

Upgrade Recommendations

This release contains significant performance improvements and bug fixes that enhance the overall stability and user experience of Ghost. We recommend all users upgrade to v5.89.0, especially those who:

1. Manage sites with a large number of posts and pages
2. Use YouTube live embeds in their content
3. Utilize the Portal for member management
4. Work with the ActivityPub integration
5. Have experienced issues with modals in Safari

The upgrade should be straightforward with no breaking changes reported. As always, it's recommended to backup your database before upgrading.

Bug Fixes

Portal & Member Experience

• Newsletter Access: Fixed an issue where users trying to access newsletter management when not logged in weren't properly redirected after signing in via magic link.
• Bulk Member Deletion Safety: Temporarily disabled bulk deletion when multiple member filters are applied to prevent incorrect members from being deleted due to NQL limitations.
• Offer Redemptions: Fixed an issue where importing members with tiers was creating unexpected invoices by updating the Stripe subscription handling to use prorationBehavior: 'none'.

Content & Embeds

• YouTube Live Embeds: Fixed an issue where YouTube live embeds were failing due to YouTube responding with localized content that didn't contain the required oembed endpoint information. The fix modifies live URLs to watch URLs before performing oembed lookup.
• Post Navigation Protection: Added protection against errors when quickly navigating away from a post before it fully loads.

UI & Design

• Dark Mode for Editors: Fixed dark mode for standalone HTML editors in Admin X, particularly affecting the formatting toolbar.
• Modal Loading: Fixed spurious errors when loading modals before the provider was ready, particularly affecting Safari users.
• Tier & Offer Styling: Added proper styling for accent colors on Tiers and Offers, replacing hardcoded pink titles with dynamic colors based on the site's accent color.

New Features

Improved Admin Performance

The loading performance for posts and pages in the admin interface has been significantly improved. This enhancement builds upon previously attempted optimizations that were reverted due to issues with the Pages view and right-click actions. The implementation now includes expanded test coverage for the posts list functionality, including right-click actions and the Pages view.

Enhanced ActivityPub Integration

• Mastodon Notes Support: Added support for displaying different types of Mastodon Notes attachments including images, audio, and video.
• Feed Layout Improvements: Centered the feed on the screen for better focus and made the Feed layout the default.
• Profile Tab: Moved Following and Followers counters to a new "Profile" tab.
• Fixed Tab Content: Corrected issues with the Activity and Likes tabs not showing the proper content.
• Better Collection Handling: Fixed handling of single item collections in the ActivityPub API module.

Improved Member Management

• Offer Redemption Backfill: Added a migration to backfill missing offer redemptions for subscriptions created with an offer but not properly recorded in the database.
• Optimized Count Queries: Improved performance by adding an option to skip the distinct clause in count queries for member events API.

Security Updates

No significant security fixes were included in this release.

Performance Improvements

Admin Interface Performance

• Posts & Pages Loading: Significantly improved the performance when loading posts and pages in the admin interface, building upon previously attempted optimizations with proper fixes for the Pages view and right-click actions.

Database Query Optimization

• Member Events API: Added an option parameter to skip the distinct clause in count queries for the members events API, improving performance for queries where distinct is unnecessary (such as when counting primary keys).
• Example optimization: Changed queries from SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT members_subscribe_events.id) to SELECT COUNT(*) where appropriate, resulting in better performance.

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.89.0 delivers notable performance improvements for admin users managing posts and pages, along with several quality-of-life fixes for both administrators and members. The enhanced ActivityPub integration improves the Mastodon experience, while fixes to YouTube live embeds ensure content creators can reliably include live streams in their posts.

The temporary safety measure disabling bulk deletion with multiple member filters prevents potential data loss issues, and the Portal sign-in redirect improvement creates a smoother experience for members accessing newsletter management.

For developers, the release includes improved test coverage, better handling of ActivityPub collections, and a reminder about testing migrations across different database types.

Overall, this release focuses on stability, performance, and user experience improvements that benefit all types of Ghost users without introducing breaking changes.

Full Release Notes