I get an error trying to install Ghost locally on Windows 11. Python 3.13 is installed on my machine, as are the sqlite3 modules, but ghost-cli doesn’t seem to recognize that Python is present (and included in the path!).
c:\Ghost> ghost install local
√ Checking system Node.js version - found v22.18.0
√ Checking current folder permissions
√ Checking memory availability
√ Checking free space
× Checking SQLite build dependencies
One or more errors occurred.
Checking SQLite build dependencies
Message: Python is required for SQLite3
Debug Information:
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home, v10.0.26100
Node Version: v22.18.0
Ghost-CLI Version: 1.28.3
Environment: development
Command: ‘ghost install local’
Most people don’t run Ghost on Windows, and no one on the dev team does. This is not the last problem you’re likely to see, because while Windows is technically supported, bugs aren’t getting reported or prioritized. My recommendation instead would be to use WSL2, which gives you a Linux virtual machine (choose Ubuntu 22) on your Windows box. Then you just follow the directions for an Ubuntu install, and everything should be very smooth. It works great, both for theme edits and for core work.
Sadly typical to hear that Ghost doesn’t actually support or even understand everything that appears in the documentation. I don’t even want to host an actual Ghost site locally. All I’m trying to do is get a test instance running enough to be able to troubleshoot my JSON import, since I can’t get at the error logs on my Ghost Pro site.
That’s an exaggeration of what I said, or maybe what I said came across harsher than intended, but OK. I think it’s generally good advice to run on the platform the devs do, because you’ll have fewer problems.
I use a Windows laptop and do a TON of Ghost work on it, but with Ghost running in WSL, so was sharing with you what has worked best for me. I worked on Windows for the first few months, and things were so much better after I switched.
That’s entirely my own observation based on many interactions with customer support while getting a different Ghost Pro site up and running, and my frustration at having to walk a thousand extra miles just to debug a JSON file import. If Windows is not supported, at the very least the docs should say so.
