My goal:
My premium ghost members (on a paid plan) should get automatic access to a paid hosted discourse community which otherwise is not accessible. Ghost is handling the payments and SSO to Discourse.
Hello,
i have read the posts about integration of discourse and ghost on self hosting but i was wondering if there is also a solution to above stated goal for no-coding people like me?
Appreciate any guidance here
By saying that you’ve “read the posts about integration of discourse and ghost on self hosting”, does that mean you’ve read about DoG?
Thanks for the reply.
Yes i did read it. As i undertstand it the context it is talked about is strictly self hosting.
In my case i was looking for a solution for a paid account (on both sides).
I have asked the same in the Discourse forum itself (with no solution) and they suggested posting here too.
Ah, I think I get it now. Your issue wasn’t so much about Ghost and Discourse being self-hosted, but DoG itself, right? Because yes, although I have Ghost and Discourse instances hosted by both Ghost and Discourse themselves, the DoG instance connecting the two is self-hosted.
If that’s your issue I can sympathise with it as I’d ideally want something where I could be fully hands off as well, but unfortunately that’s not something that exists at the moment.
That is correct. It’s about connecting both paid versions which currently can’t be connected (integrated) which is really a bummer as both are great products and making it available like that would open it to many more people who can’t or don’t want to code and self host. Ghost has a super smooth and frictionless payment workflow and utulising it with the power of discourse would make a great combination.
I think I may be able to do something for this, will have to dig into it.
On the Discourse forum, it was mentioned:
Yes. By none other than myself 
And i’m still perplexed that nobody else has brought it up 
I just created a topic on Discourse’s forum questioning whether or not the creation of a Sign in with Ghost plugin is technically possible.
Wow. Appreciated it a lot 
Hi there, I’m new here and joined specifically to research this issue: how to integrate a paid (hosted) Discourse instance with paid (hosted) Ghost(Pro) via a robust, secure third party SSO app.
Did you manage to fix this? What route did you take? Would be great to know how you got on 
Hi @inderjot did you manage to sort this? I am looking for a solution to your same problem, and so far have hit a brick wall between Ghost and Discourse support teams. I could code something up myself and self-host (eg adapted third party SSO Middleware) but I am extremely time-poor, and would prefer to outsource the set-up to someone who does this for a living. Would love to hear about your experience.
Hi Seb,
no i totally abandoned the idea. I see the great potential but its like seeing into the future. It’s just not there yet and also just too much hassle for me and i abandoned this combo and had to change platforms for my use case. My time is just too precious for grinding down a solution by myself.
Wow. Incredibly disappointing to hear that. I am going to persevere a little longer. I know it is possible. Which platform(s) did you switch to?
This was my scenario or dream:
Discourse is private community
The Public website (Landing Page/Blog) and the newsletter and where you can sign up is ghost.
Once a member signed up with ghost they have automatic access to the community.
Ghost is also limited in page design which meant i couldn’t create the designs (visually) what i had in mind.
I switched to Squarespace with Circle as the community.
Squarespace is the portal that handles everything (Payment/Membership/Emails).
Once you signed up, you receive a Circle invite code with your welcome email.
The user can create than his seperate Circle membership account. Done.
It’s not ideal but more convinient FOR ME.
I know your and mine set up COULD be done but as it is not natively supported,
there needs to be lots of workarounds that
a) costs money (crazypaid zapier connections) or
b) needs custom coding (needs a developer, not only for the creation but also for support) or
c) worst case both.
As i said it can be done but for what sacrifice?
Basically i had to reframe / retool my approach and with the Combo Squarespace/Circle i’m happy now.
I used to be a “own your platform guy” (Wordpress) for more than a decade,
but the constant maintenance work was killing my joy and i asked myself:
Do i really see myself doing Wordpress and Plugin Updates (or general client website maintenance) for another 10 years?
And the answer was a resounding no.
And since then i am more free, figurative and literal.
Wordpress, as an example, sounds great in theory (own your website platform, no monthly costs, total flexibility with design and add-ons) but it is an illusion. You are locked in a never ending maintenance/ service cycle, almost like saas, that requires time and money as well.
Sorry for the rant, but this way you understand maybe where i’m coming from.
with the public website/landingpage/public blog and newsletter AND (ghost) i had to switch from my ghost/discourse to