Install and configure Ghost blog in cPanel using Apache Reverse Proxy with mod_proxy

Ghost is an open source, professional publishing platform built on a modern Node.js technology stack — designed for teams who need power, flexibility and performance.

Hitting the right balance of needs has led Ghost to be used in production by organisations including Apple, Sky News, DuckDuckGo, Mozilla, Kickstarter, Square, Cloudflare, Tinder, the Bitcoin Foundation and many more.

This guide will teach you how to install Ghost blog using cPanel hosting with Apache mod_proxy and Cloudlinux Node.js app.

Configure your Node.js app and install Ghost

Log in to your cPanel account and navigate to Setup Node.js App.

Create a new application with:

• Node.js version 22.x (or compatible)
• Application root /$HOME/$CPANELUSER/ghost-blog
• Application startup file current/index.js

Select Save to create the Node.js environment.

Copy the source command displayed at the top of the Node.js app and log in to cPanel via Terminal using SSH or cPanel Terminal. Paste the source command to start using npm.

From your home directory, change into your Node application root:

cd ~/ghost-blog/

Install Ghost CLI:

npm install ghost-cli@latest -g

Change into your application public folder and install Ghost:

cd ~/ghost-blog/public ghost install local

This takes a while, so get a coffee!

Create .htaccess in public_html

Since the cPanel document root is ~/public_html, the reverse proxy will be configured there. Edit or create ~/public_html/.htaccess in and add the following:

# Allow AutoSSL
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/\.well-known/acme-challenge/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ - [L]

Save and close the file.

Configure Apache Reverse Proxy with mod_proxy

This guide is designed for users and web hosts who wish to install Ghost blog. To perform these steps root access is required. If you wish to install Ghost within your cPanel account, please contact our friendly support team to arrange this configuration to be added on your behalf. Otherwise if you are a server admin, please proceed to configure mod_proxy. We've followed cPanel's instructions on configuring Apache Reverse Proxy for a virtual host. The steps are as follows:

Create the directories and files where the includes go:

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/$CPANELUSER/$DOMAIN.TLD/

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/$CPANELUSER/$DOMAIN.TLD/

touch /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/$CPANELUSER/$DOMAIN.TLD/include.conf

touch /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/$CPANELUSER/$DOMAIN.TLD/include.conf

Open both include.conf files in your preferred text editor, and add the following:

# Allow AutoSSL
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/.well-known/acme-challenge/ [NC]

# Proxy all other requests to Ghost
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://127.0.0.1:2368/$1 [P,L]

# WebSocket support for Ghost admin
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
RewriteRule /(.*) ws://127.0.0.1:2368/$1 [P,L]

ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:2368/

Rebuild the httpd.conf file, run the following script:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf

Restart the Apache service:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

Configure Ghost

Return to your application root (~/ghost-blog/public ) and create the production config file. Copy config.developement.json to the new filename config.production.json:

cp config.development.json config.production.json

{
"url": "https://your-domain.com.au",
"server": {
"port": 2368,
"host": "127.0.0.1"
},
"database": {
"client": "sqlite3",
"connection": {
"filename": "content/data/ghost.db"
}
},
"logging": {
"level": "info",
"transports": ["file", "stdout"]
},
"process": "local",
"paths": {
"contentPath": "content/"
}
}

Hopefully all is well and your website is now loading Ghost Blog. You can continue to create your admin user via https://your-domain.com.au/ghost.

Troubleshooting Notes

Site not loading via HTTPS

Confirm AutoSSL or Let’s Encrypt issued a valid certificate.

Ensure .well-known/acme-challenge/ is excluded from the proxy.

Check HTTP access logs for details regarding access to .well-known/acme-challenge.

Ensure the domain resolves to your cPanel server’s public IP.

Ghost admin panel not working

Confirm WebSocket proxy rules are present in include.conf files.

Verify ProxyPreserveHost On and ProxyPassReverse are set.

Ensure Node.js app is running on port 2368.

Use ghost ls command to confirm app details.

Ghost updates failing

Perform updates inside ~/ghost-blog using ghost update.

Ensure Node.js and dependencies meet Ghost requirements.

Node.js environment issues

Select the correct Node.js version in cPanel.

Use the source command before running npm or Ghost CLI commands.

Restart Node.js app if Ghost does not respond.

Ghost install process requires a lot of RAM and approximately 3GB disk. Ensure you have sufficient resources for the install.

Useful Ghost CLI Commands

Always run Ghost CLI commands from the Node.js application environment using the source command from cPanel Terminal.