Ghost is a free, open, simple blogging platform that's available to anyone who wants to use it. Lovingly created and maintained by [John O'Nolan](http://twitter.com/JohnONolan) + [Hannah Wolfe](http://twitter.com/ErisDS) + an amazing group of [contributors](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/contributors).
Want to report a bug, request a feature, contribute or translate Ghost? Check out our in-depth guide to [Contributing to Ghost](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). We need all the help we can get! You can also join in with our [community](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost#community) to keep up-to-date and meet other Ghosters.
**Please note** - the downloadable zip files we provide on [Ghost.org](http://ghost.org/download), the [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/releases), and via npm are pre-built packages designed for getting setup quickly. Cloning from the git repository requires you to install several dependencies and build the assets yourself.
For detailed instructions for various platforms visit the [Ghost Installation Guide](http://support.ghost.org/installation/). If you get stuck, help is available on [our support site](http://support.ghost.org/).
1. Create a new directory where you would like to run the code, and un-zip the package to that location.
1. Fire up a Terminal, the Node Command Prompt or shell and change directory to the root of the Ghost application (where config.example.js and index.js are)
1. run `npm install --production` to install the node dependencies. If you see `error Error: ENOENT` on this step, make sure you are in the project directory and try again.
1. To start ghost, run `npm start`
1. Visit `http://localhost:2368/` in your web browser or go to `http://localhost:2368/ghost` to log in
Check out the [Documentation](http://support.ghost.org/) for more detailed instructions, or get in touch via the [forum](http://ghost.org/forum) if you get stuck.
If you clone the GitHub repository, you will need to build a number of assets using grunt.
Please do **NOT** use the master branch of Ghost in production. If you are using git to deploy to production, please use the latest [release](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/releases) or the [stable](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/tree/stable) branch which contains the latest release.
1.`grunt init` (and `grunt prod` if you want to run Ghost in production mode)
1.`npm start`
Full instructions & troubleshooting tips can be found in the [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) under the heading "[Working on Ghost Core](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#working-on-ghost-core)".
Check out the [Documentation](http://support.ghost.org/) for more detailed instructions, or get in touch via the [forum](http://ghost.org/forum) if you get stuck.
If you want to build Ghost into a larger node app, or are familiar with using `npm` packages, then this method might be for you.
`npm install ghost`
Further setup instructions can be found in the [using Ghost as a NPM module](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Using-Ghost-as-an-NPM-module) wiki entry.
Once you have the Ghost server up and running, you should be able to navigate to `http://localhost:2368/ghost/` from a web browser, where you will be prompted to setup your blog and user account. Once you have entered your desired credentials you will be automatically logged in to the admin area. The setup screen will not be accessible once the process has been completed.
* Follow Ghost on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/TryGhost), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/ghost) and [Google+](https://plus.google.com/114465948129362706086).
* Chat with Ghost developers on IRC. We're on `irc.freenode.net`, in the `#Ghost` channel. We have a public meeting every Tuesday at 5:30pm London time.
For transparency and insight into our release cycle, and for striving to maintain backward compatibility, Ghost will be maintained according to the [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/) guidelines as much as possible.
