Dope

Dope is a tag-based Ghost theme that arranges posts into visual collections, turning a standard Ghost publication into a magazine-style site with clickable tag columns. It is developed and maintained by the Ghost Foundation as part of the open-source TryGhost/Themes monorepo and released under the MIT license.

What is Dope?

Dope is a free, open-source theme for the Ghost publishing platform, designed specifically to group content by tags. It takes the tags already attached to your Ghost posts and renders them as columns on the homepage, so each tag becomes a distinct visual section. The theme is installed by uploading a zip file through Ghost's Design settings and requires no coding to set up. It is one of the official themes synced from the TryGhost/Themes repository.

Key Features

• Tag-based layout — The homepage presents posts in columns sorted by tag, giving each topic its own visual collection that readers can scan and click into.
• Ghost-native design — Works with Ghost's standard post and tag data, so no custom content types or side configuration are needed beyond existing tags.
• Gulp/PostCSS build system — Styles are written in /assets/css/ and compiled to /assets/built/ using Gulp and PostCSS with future CSS spec polyfills; a pnpm dev command builds and watches for changes.
• Packaging task — A pnpm zip Gulp task bundles the theme into dist/dope.zip, ready to upload to any Ghost site.
• Translation support — Theme translations are handled through the TryGhost/Themes theme-translations README, so contributors can add or edit language files in one central place.
• MIT license — Free to use, modify, and reuse; copyright is held by the Ghost Foundation (2013–2026).

Who is it for?

• Magazines and digital publishers — Use tag columns to create clear sections like news, opinion, and culture that readers can browse from the homepage.
• Multi-topic bloggers — Show each tag as its own column so visitors can filter by interest without digging through archives.
• Ghost users who want a collection-based design — Get a ready-made layout that organizes existing tagged content without building a custom theme.

What can you do with Dope?

• Magazine editors: arrange published posts into tag-driven columns that highlight each section on the homepage, reducing the need for extra navigation menus.
• Developers: customize the theme by editing CSS files with a modern Gulp/PostCSS workflow, then produce a deployable zip with pnpm zip.
• Translators: contribute localized strings through the official theme-translations README, helping extend the theme's reach.

How does Dope work?

Download the theme zip from its GitHub repository, log into Ghost, and upload the file in the Design settings area. Once activated, the theme automatically reads existing tags from your posts and builds the column layout on the homepage. For local development, clone the repo, run pnpm install, and use pnpm dev to compile and watch for CSS changes.

FAQ

Is Dope free?

Yes, Dope is open-source under the MIT license. You can download, modify, and use it on any Ghost site without paying licensing fees.

How do I install Dope?

Download the zip from the repository, go to Ghost's Design settings, and upload the zip file. The theme becomes active immediately; no other setup is required.

Does Dope work with any Ghost version?

Dope is maintained in the TryGhost/Themes monorepo, where official Ghost themes are developed. It is designed to work with the current Ghost platform, and the repository is synced automatically with that monorepo.

Can I contribute to Dope?

Yes, contributions and issues are handled in the TryGhost/Themes repository. Translations have their own workflow, documented in the theme-translations README.