In short. Ghost exposes the private RSS feed URL in the private-site settings, while public feeds use /rss/ on publication and archive URLs.
Definition: A public Ghost publication has an automatically generated RSS feed at its site URL followed by
/rss/, with similar feeds available for author and tag archives. When Private Site Mode is enabled, Ghost says the RSS feed is not public and the private feed URL is retrieved from Ghost Admin.
Key facts
- Ghost says it automatically generates RSS feeds for various areas of a publication in its RSS feed documentation.
- Adding
/rss/to most Ghost publication URLs produces an automatically generated RSS feed. - Ghost's examples cover a main post index, an author archive and a tag archive.
- When Private Site Mode is enabled, the RSS feed is not publicly available.
- Ghost directs administrators to the private RSS feed URL in the
Settings → General → Make this site privatearea.
Where is the private RSS feed URL in Ghost Admin?
Ghost's RSS documentation places the private feed URL inside Ghost Admin under the area used to make the site private. The documented navigation is:
Settings → General → Make this site private
The page says that a private RSS feed URL can be retrieved there. It gives the location in the interface, but it does not publish a private URL pattern or a sample private URL. The URL should therefore be copied from the setting shown for the publication.
Ghost's broader site setup documentation describes enabling private site mode from Settings → Membership → Access. The two pages expose different menu paths, so the label visible in the current Ghost Admin interface is the relevant one when locating the setting.
Which public archive feeds does Ghost provide?
For a publication that is not in Private Site Mode, Ghost documents /rss/ as a suffix that can be added to most publication URLs. Its examples are:
https://demo.ghost.io/rss/
https://demo.ghost.io/author/lewis/rss/
https://demo.ghost.io/tag/fiction/rss/
The first example is labelled the main post index. The second is an author archive feed, and the third is a tag archive feed. The same rule means that the public archive URL is the archive path followed by /rss/, where that path is one of the publication URLs Ghost supports.
What changes when Private Site Mode is enabled?
Ghost's site setup page describes private site mode as a shared-password option enabled from Settings → Membership → Access. It states that, while private site mode is on, all search engine optimization features are switched off. Ghost also describes the setting as simple shared-password privacy and says it is not secure authentication for protecting important private data.
The RSS documentation makes the feed consequence specific: the public RSS feed is unavailable, while a private RSS feed URL remains retrievable inside Ghost Admin. A public /rss/ example is therefore useful for a public publication, while a private publication requires the URL exposed by its private-site setting.
How can you check the feed location?
For a public Ghost publication, check the site root followed by /rss/, then check the relevant author or tag archive followed by /rss/. Ghost's documentation uses the main post index, author archive and tag archive examples above. For a private publication, open the private-site setting in Ghost Admin and retrieve the private RSS feed URL shown there.
Related terms
- What happens to Ghost's SEO features when private site mode is enabled?
- Where does Ghost publish its XML sitemaps?
- What structured data does Ghost generate automatically?
FAQ
Is a private Ghost RSS feed the same as /rss/?
Ghost documents /rss/ as a public feed pattern. For a site in Private Site Mode, Ghost says to retrieve a private RSS feed URL from the private-site area in Ghost Admin.
Where is a public tag archive feed?
Ghost's example is https://demo.ghost.io/tag/fiction/rss/. The pattern places /rss/ after the tag archive path.
Does Private Site Mode provide secure authentication?
Ghost describes the feature as a simple shared password for basic privacy and says it is not secure authentication for important private data.
Sources
- Ghost, "Where can I find my RSS feed?", 12 March 2024
- Ghost, "Setting up your Ghost site", 1 May 2026
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