Explore tab empty in Ghost admin interface (explore URLs return 404s)

jbfriedrich · November 28, 2025, 12:54pm

I recently had the issue with one of my blogs that the “Explore” tab under “Network” in the Ghost admin UI was completely empty. In the logs I saw that all explore URLs are returning 404s. So I decided to set up a Ghost test instance from scratch, using the same tech stack (Traefik, Docker, self-hosted AP) to see if I can reproduce the issue. And I can!

It looks like activitypub itself is set up correctly, but every url /.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/* is delivering a 404:

activitypub  | 12:40:49.868 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:49.876 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '313a34b8-ee3f-4b8b-9338-49e4ec2fe6df' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:40:49.928 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/notifications' '6bc165ba-565a-43ed-a74d-6d79897cbbe2'
activitypub  | 12:40:49.928 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:49.940 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/notifications' '6bc165ba-565a-43ed-a74d-6d79897cbbe2' 200 12ms
activitypub  | 12:40:49.995 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/notifications/unread/count' '27100a32-4b55-4ae3-9348-92d6b65cd65c'
activitypub  | 12:40:49.996 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:50.005 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/notifications/unread/count' '27100a32-4b55-4ae3-9348-92d6b65cd65c' 200 10ms
activitypub  | 12:40:51.036 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '5076fdcf-2fbe-4358-9c6b-60657035f293'
activitypub  | 12:40:51.036 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:51.044 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '5076fdcf-2fbe-4358-9c6b-60657035f293' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:40:51.099 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '6f362c52-2a6b-46f3-9272-54c6bc2b995b'
activitypub  | 12:40:51.100 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:51.107 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '6f362c52-2a6b-46f3-9272-54c6bc2b995b' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:40:51.160 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/feed/reader' '8d4a443e-046e-4a89-9151-223cf3f42f21'
activitypub  | 12:40:51.160 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:40:51.174 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/feed/reader' '8d4a443e-046e-4a89-9151-223cf3f42f21' 200 14ms
activitypub  | 12:40:51.178 ERR activitypub: Error updating interaction counts for post with ID 1: 'post-is-internal'
activitypub  | 12:41:00.428 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' 'd837db7a-caea-4188-b3ae-b83d2f3cbf10'
activitypub  | 12:41:00.428 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:00.436 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' 'd837db7a-caea-4188-b3ae-b83d2f3cbf10' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:41:00.487 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '76658603-614c-42a4-951f-f1a753ca0970'
activitypub  | 12:41:00.488 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:00.496 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '76658603-614c-42a4-951f-f1a753ca0970' 200 9ms
activitypub  | 12:41:00.548 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/feed/notes' '9cd2cdd6-c129-43ed-ae8d-47194cfdba26'
activitypub  | 12:41:00.548 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:00.559 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/feed/notes' '9cd2cdd6-c129-43ed-ae8d-47194cfdba26' 200 11ms
activitypub  | 12:41:00.562 ERR activitypub: Error updating interaction counts for post with ID 2: 'post-is-internal'
activitypub  | 12:41:04.450 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '732b3e75-1bd9-4c4e-aed0-7a52b2a46bb1'
activitypub  | 12:41:04.450 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:04.458 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '732b3e75-1bd9-4c4e-aed0-7a52b2a46bb1' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:41:04.510 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '978f17c5-5902-4785-98c9-9c89ecb18d2b'
activitypub  | 12:41:04.510 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:04.519 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '978f17c5-5902-4785-98c9-9c89ecb18d2b' 200 9ms
activitypub  | 12:41:05.941 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '3481f72f-a810-44d3-8692-44d8ae122979'
activitypub  | 12:41:05.942 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:05.950 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '3481f72f-a810-44d3-8692-44d8ae122979' 200 9ms
activitypub  | 12:41:06.010 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' 'de5abada-fca7-4844-aa16-439e3acefe7b'
activitypub  | 12:41:06.010 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:06.017 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' 'de5abada-fca7-4844-aa16-439e3acefe7b' 200 7ms
activitypub  | 12:41:06.982 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '5464e595-e7fa-4763-ad0d-7b5d23ba955b'
activitypub  | 12:41:06.983 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:06.991 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts' '5464e595-e7fa-4763-ad0d-7b5d23ba955b' 200 9ms
activitypub  | 12:41:07.051 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '8166856b-6c36-41dd-95f1-1264fb3d2fd1'
activitypub  | 12:41:07.051 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:07.058 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains' '8166856b-6c36-41dd-95f1-1264fb3d2fd1' 200 8ms
activitypub  | 12:41:07.108 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/top' '029198af-f3b6-4185-a1b9-7d46b5ada3b7'
activitypub  | 12:41:07.108 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:41:07.115 WRN fedify·federation·http: 'GET' '/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/top': 404
activitypub  | 12:41:07.116 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/top' '029198af-f3b6-4185-a1b9-7d46b5ada3b7' 404 7ms
activitypub  | 12:42:06.314 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/tech' 'dfed69d6-71ec-447e-ae93-8528197954ce'
activitypub  | 12:42:06.315 INF activitypub: KnexKvStore: Get key cachedJwks,staticvoid.blog
activitypub  | 12:42:06.321 WRN fedify·federation·http: 'GET' '/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/tech': 404
activitypub  | 12:42:06.321 INF activitypub: 'GET' 'staticvoid.blog' 'https://staticvoid.blog/.ghost/activitypub/v1/explore/tech' 'dfed69d6-71ec-447e-ae93-8528197954ce' 404 7ms

The page just remains empty:

I think it worked on one of my old blogs before. Now it does not seem to work at all anymore. Can someone point me into the right direction how to debug this? Or is this maybe expected behaviour because I am using a self-hosted ActivityPub service, instead of ap.ghost.org?

jannis · November 28, 2025, 1:30pm

It is indeed because of that.

The Explore data is local, so for a single-user AP instance it won’t make much sense, in my eyes. Essentially, there was a migration last month that added a new table to the MySQL database: account_topics:

github.com/TryGhost/ActivityPub

migrate/migrations/000071_add-account-topics-table.up.sql

b93f8d444


      
          CREATE TABLE account_topics (
              id INT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
          
              account_id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
              topic_id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          
              FOREIGN KEY (account_id) REFERENCES accounts(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
              FOREIGN KEY (topic_id) REFERENCES topics(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
              UNIQUE KEY unique_account_topic (account_id, topic_id)
          );

There is a job that was added that can be used to populate the information:

github.com/TryGhost/ActivityPub

jobs/reconcile-account-topics/README.md

b93f8d444

# reconcile-account-topics

Reconciles ActivityPub accounts with topics from the database using an external
API as the source of truth

For each topic in the database:
- Fetches up to 200 sites from an external API endpoint
- Creates accounts for sites that don't exist in the database
- Creates account-topic mappings for sites returned by the API
- Deletes account-topic mappings for sites no longer returned by the API

**Note**: Topics are NOT created or deleted by this job - they must already exist in the database

## Prerequisites

- Globally available `bun`
- Globally available `docker`

## Running locally

This file has been truncated. show original

It does rely on an external API providing the sites though – so, it’s entirely purpose built for Ghost(Pro). Fair game – they are developing this.

What I have done at Magic Pages was rather simple. I took all site names and URL that are using ActivityPub on my server, fetched their home page and asked a local LLM to categorize them in the Explore topics. That information is then saved in the MySQL table.

Works for Magic Pages with hundreds of sites. But quite honestly, for self-hosted instances that is complete overkill and the Explore view – in it’s current form – is pretty useless, given that it doesn’t connect to other Ghost sites (which then again…also has advantages).

disgustipated · November 28, 2025, 2:10pm

I just set up the self hosted activitypub myself finally and noticed the same. so it sounds like the ghost explore and reader sections is similar to what you would see in the federated timeline of a mastodon instance

jbfriedrich · November 28, 2025, 3:25pm

Thank you so, so, much! That explains it all perfectly. That means that the “Explore” section is not really relevant for self-hosted installations that are also using a self-hosted AP instances. Some more documentation would definitely help to explain it better.

I think I had the wrong impression of the ActivityPub service. I thought that it was kind of feature complete and “all batteries included” to have your own independent Ghost blog that has everything it needs to federate. With that in mind, I did not expect that the “Explore” view would depend on some form of external service or API to not have a blank page.

Of course it makes complete sense for Ghost Pro in a product sense and solves a lot of problems that were outlined in the last Changelog post. Maybe it would make sense to not display certain entries in the UI if one is using their own AP service. That way that would be less confusing.

disgustipated · November 28, 2025, 3:41pm

same here, though in its current form it does enable quite a bit of interaction capabilities to the fediverse from a central point. for a restaurant ghost instance i manage this will allow them to be followed and seen by anyone using an activitypub service like mastodon, bluesky, and others, and they can have it all in one spot in ghost without having to sign up for another service. pretty awesome stuff.

John · November 29, 2025, 9:51pm

Maybe it would make sense to not display certain entries in the UI if one is using their own AP service.

yep - we’ll work on updating this so it makes more sense for self hosted AP instances too

Topic		Replies	Views
Site missing from Explore and site that shouldn't be on Explore Self-hosting	9	90	November 26, 2025
Activity Pub on self host Ghost Blog 6.7 just dont work Self-hosting	9	114	November 12, 2025
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Explore tab empty in Ghost admin interface (explore URLs return 404s)

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