Publish an event like a post. List it by when it happens.
I’d like to propose event posts in Ghost: familiar posts with structured start and finish dates, a timezone, and location or booking details. They would use the existing editor and publishing workflow, while giving themes and integrations a reliable way to list upcoming and past events.
The need
An announcement published in October for a December workshop should be visible straight away, appear in the right place in an event-date list, and move into past events after it finishes. Its publication date and event date serve different purposes.
Tagged posts, HTML cards and repurposed fields can help, but leave editors and theme developers maintaining workarounds for an everyday publishing task. Native event details would make that information easier to enter, validate and reuse.
Who would benefit?
- Creators and member communities: live Q&As, workshops, launches and meetups that bring readers into direct conversation.
- Local news publishers and newsletter writers: upcoming activities readers can find in date order, with an archive of past events.
- Nonprofits and community organisations: volunteer activities, public meetings and learning opportunities, with clear information about when, where and how to participate.
- Theme developers and integration builders: consistent event data for listings and calendars, without parsing post content or borrowing unrelated fields.
My immediate use case is a theme for Landcare and community organisations, but I see this as a shared publishing need. Readable dates, participation options and access information help people decide whether and how they can attend. Ghost’s recognition as a digital public good provides relevant public-benefit context for serving independent publishers, nonprofits and civic organisations.
A focused scope
The starting point would be event details attached to posts, plus reliable filtering and sorting by event date. Ghost would continue to handle content, newsletters and member access; booking and meeting services could handle registration and live sessions. Ticketing, attendee management and recurring-event rules could remain outside the initial scope.
There are related discussions on adding events in Ghost and event-date queries, as well as community tools such as Haunts. Native event details could provide a shared foundation for that work.
Would event posts solve a recurring need for your publication? What do you organise, and how do you currently publish it in Ghost?
I’d also welcome the Ghost team’s view on whether this scope fits the product direction. I can follow up here with a practical editor experience and a possible technical approach.