How to build Ghost dashboards in Metabase

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform for newsletters and memberships, tracking subscribers, paid tiers, and MRR. Metabase is where you turn that site data into shared, trustworthy dashboards. This guide covers three complementary paths: a direct database connection to the MySQL 8 instance Ghost runs on, a lightweight MCP + CLI route that pulls live data with the Ghost MCP server (community) and loads a CSV into Metabase with the Metabase CLI, and a durable pipeline route that syncs Ghost stats into a database so you can build dashboards anyone can read.

How do you connect Ghost to Metabase?

Self-hosters should start with the database route; the MCP + CLI and pipeline routes cover hosted setups and cross-source joins.

How do you connect Metabase directly to the Ghost database?

Self-hosted Ghost runs on MySQL 8: members, members_paid_subscriptions, posts, and emails tables give you subscriber growth, MRR, and newsletter engagement with zero ETL.

• Add the MySQL 8 instance under Admin → Databases in Metabase — use a read-only user, and prefer a read replica for busy production sites.
• Build Metabase models on top of the raw tables (filter out revisions, autosaves, and internal statuses once), and point every question at the models.
• Version-pin your expectations: CMS core upgrades can change internal schemas, so re-check models after major updates.

What can you analyze from Ghost data in Metabase?

• Member growth: free vs. paid by week — built from members and subscriptions and the related paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts data your connection exposes.
• MRR trend and paid-conversion rate — built from members and subscriptions and the related paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts data your connection exposes.
• Newsletter open and click engagement — built from members and subscriptions and the related paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts data your connection exposes.
• Top posts by member signups driven — built from members and subscriptions and the related paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts data your connection exposes.
• Churned members and cancellation reasons — built from members and subscriptions and the related paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts data your connection exposes.

Which Ghost dashboards should you build in Metabase?

How do you use the Ghost MCP server (community) with the Metabase CLI?

Pair the Ghost MCP server (community) with the Metabase CLI for fast, hands-on analysis. MCP is useful for scoped lookups and summarized exports; the Metabase CLI's upload command loads CSV data into Metabase and creates a ready-to-query table and model.

Example workflow

• Ask the MCP server for members and subscriptions with signup dates, status, and tier.
• Export the result as CSV, keeping stable IDs, statuses, and dates as columns.
• Run mb upload csv to load it into Metabase as a table and model, then build questions and dashboards on top.

Be honest about the limits

• MCP lookups are excellent for exploration, not scheduled reporting.
• A CSV upload is a snapshot; refresh it with mb upload replace or move to a durable route for real history.
• Member records carry their own created-at history, but MRR trends need daily snapshots — start capturing them before you need the chart.
• mb upload csv needs an uploads database configured under Admin → Settings → Uploads.

How do you set up Ghost MCP and the Metabase CLI?

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ghost": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@fanyangmeng/ghost-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GHOST_API_URL": "https://yoursite.ghost.io",
        "GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY": "your-admin-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Ghost publishes no official MCP server as of mid-2026; this community server wraps the Admin API (posts, members, tiers, offers, newsletters) and targets Ghost 5.x — check compatibility notes against Ghost 6 sites before automating anything.

# Install the Metabase CLI
npm install -g @metabase/cli

# Log in (opens your browser; requires Metabase v62+)
mb auth login --url https://your-metabase.example.com

# Load a members-and-subscriptions export — creates a table AND a model
mb upload csv --file ghost-members-and-subscriptions.csv --collection root

# Refresh that same table later from a new export
mb upload replace <table-id> --file ghost-members-and-subscriptions.csv

Can you generate a Ghost dashboard with AI?

Yes. Use the prompt below with any assistant that can run the Ghost MCP server (community) and the Metabase CLI. It works end to end: if Ghost tables already exist in Metabase it analyzes those; otherwise it pulls scoped, summarized data over MCP, loads it with mb upload csv, then builds the dashboard and caveats any metric that needs missing history.

Create a polished Metabase dashboard for Ghost membership analytics.
Work end to end: get the data into Metabase if it isn't there yet, then build.

Goal: Help site and content owners understand member growth, subscription revenue, newsletter engagement, and which posts convert readers into subscribers from Ghost data.

Step 1 — Find or load the data:
- First, check what already exists in Metabase (search for ghost tables and
  models). If Metabase is already connected to the Ghost database, use those tables directly — that's the best route.
- If nothing is there, pull a scoped, summarized export with the Ghost MCP server (community):
  members and subscriptions, plus paid tiers, newsletter sends and engagement, posts.
  Write each result to a CSV, then load it with the Metabase CLI — run
  "mb upload csv --file <export>.csv" so each upload creates a table and a
  ready-to-query model. Use "mb upload replace <table-id> --file <export>.csv"
  to refresh an existing table instead of creating duplicates.

Step 2 — Inspect before querying:
Do not assume exact table or column names. Inspect available content types,
statuses, dates, and whether daily history exists before creating trend cards.

Important:
- Build on whatever data is present; don't claim Metabase connects natively to
  the Ghost API — it reads a database or CLI-uploaded tables.
- Exclude revisions, autosaves, and test entries from headline content counts.
- Only compute rates (conversion, open rate, paid share) when both numerator
  and denominator exist in the data.
- A single CSV is a point-in-time snapshot: only build trend cards if there is
  a usable date column or multiple periods have been uploaded.

Dashboard title: Ghost Membership Overview

Sections:
1. Executive summary: Total members; Paid members; MRR; Last send's open and
   click rates.
2. Growth: New free and paid members by week; signups by attribution source.
3. Revenue: MRR trend; free-to-paid conversion; tier mix; churned members.
4. Newsletter: Open, click, and unsubscribe rates by send.
5. Content: Posts ranked by member signups and paid conversions.

Filters: Date range, Content type/Collection, Status, Author/Editor, Tier.

Output: Build the dashboard if you have permission; otherwise provide the exact
questions, SQL, model definitions, and layout. Include caveats for any metric
that cannot be calculated from the available data.

How do you sync Ghost data into a database or warehouse?

Self-hosted installs may not need a sync at all — connect Metabase to the database. Sync when you're on a hosted plan, or when Ghost data should land next to analytics and revenue data in a shared warehouse.

Connector options

• Managed ETL — use a connector when one covers the objects you need.
• Custom pipeline — use the Ghost Admin API for control over grain, fields, and refresh cadence.
• MCP + CSV — use this for quick exploration and one-off slices.

No managed connector exists — script the Admin API for members, tiers, and newsletter stats. Ghost 6's native analytics (traffic, sources, growth) are served through the admin UI rather than a documented public API, so member and email data are the reliable warehouse objects.

Notes

• Land raw entity tables first, then build clean Metabase models on top.
• Normalize member status, tier, signup date, and MRR amount fields.
• Keep platform stats (views, sessions) separate from measured analytics tools' numbers — definitions differ, and gaps are normal.

How should you model Ghost data in Metabase?

Core tables

Modeling advice

• Build a clean member_growth_daily model with consistent columns, so dashboards survive schema changes and plugin swaps.
• Filter out revisions, autosaves, drafts-of-drafts, and internal test entries once, in the model — not in every question.
• Normalize URLs (lowercase, no protocol, no trailing slash) so CMS content joins cleanly to analytics and Search Console data.
• Store dates in UTC and convert at display time; CMS installs often run in site-local timezones.

Which Ghost metrics should you track in Metabase?

What SQL powers Ghost dashboards in Metabase?

These run against Ghost's own MySQL 8 schema, shown in PostgreSQL dialect — MySQL needs minor changes such as DATE_FORMAT in place of date_trunc.

SELECT
  date_trunc('week', created_at) AS week,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE status_at_signup = 'free') AS new_free_members,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (
    WHERE status_at_signup IN ('paid', 'comped')
  ) AS new_paid_members
FROM ghost_members
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

SELECT
  stat_date,
  mrr,
  paid_members,
  ROUND(1.0 * mrr / NULLIF(paid_members, 0), 2) AS arpu
FROM ghost_mrr_daily
WHERE currency = 'usd'
ORDER BY 1;

SELECT
  sent_at::date AS send_date,
  email_count AS delivered,
  ROUND(100.0 * opened_count / NULLIF(email_count, 0), 1) AS open_rate_pct,
  ROUND(100.0 * clicked_count / NULLIF(email_count, 0), 2) AS click_rate_pct,
  unsubscribed_count
FROM ghost_email_stats
ORDER BY sent_at DESC
LIMIT 20;

What are common mistakes when analyzing Ghost in Metabase?

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FAQ