GhostLite: Why we need another blogging app

tl:dr; I made a lightweight version of Ghost, it's here.

Call me crazy, but I think blogging is becoming relevant again.

Maybe I'm biased because I run boredreading.com and my spidey senses tell me that I have an easier time finding higher quality writing online than I did 2-3 years ago. But I also think it's a culmination of various forces which are pushing people to move into private spaces.

These forces have also incentivized me to start blogging.

My motivations are to share what I'm working on, talk about ideas that are too nuanced for social media, and take advantage of the medium of writing to think with greater clarity. So it was decided, I'd like to blog (again).

In great year of A.I., I thought that was un-acceptable.

Only one platform came close to my requirements, Ghost.

I admire Ghost. Nay, I love Ghost. I like the founders, the team, the mission — everything. But it fails my requirement test because I want my blogging to be cheap and simple. Ghost is not simple, not anymore atleast. It's not their fault but Ghost has became more than a blogging platform (a full blown CMS) and I just wanted something simple.

I've entertained the idea of simplifying Ghost for my own needs for a couple years. But I couldn't justify the time and effort it would have taken to do so.

We've entered the age of LLMs, and boy has it changed the equation.

I think of it as "GhostLite". It's Ghost, without all the non-blogging stuff.

Open Source Repository: https://github.com/kumailht/GhostLite

You can self host your blog, on the smallest server, with SQLite that you can download a backup to restore later to your computer easily.

Go ahead and try instal GhostLite on your Railway or whatever hosting provider you use. It shouldn't take too much effort as the build pipeline is massively simplified. If you hit any snags, message me on socials or email me.

Thank you for trying it out.