# \[Localdev\] Update routes.yaml dynamically

**URL:** <https://forum.ghost.org/t/localdev-update-routes-yaml-dynamically/60485>\
**Category:** Routing\
**Created:** [October 16, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/localdev-update-routes-yaml-dynamically/60485 "2025-10-16T00:06:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Collxn\_Ash](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/collxn_ash/32/37564_2.png) [@Collxn\_Ash](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Collxn_Ash)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/localdev-update-routes-yaml-dynamically/60485/1 "2025-10-16T00:06:34Z")

</div>

Hi! This question is scoped to **local development**.

# Goal

I want to avoid needing to manually re-upload `routes.yaml` via the admin every time I update it. Is this possible?

# My setup

I have two local repos:

- Ghost site install (`ghost-site`)
- Custom theme repo (`custom-theme`)

I track `routes.yaml` in the `custom-theme` repo, but for it to take effect, it needs to be present in one or both (???) of:

- `ghost-site/current/content/settings/routes.yaml`
- `ghost-site/content/settings/routes.yaml`

# What I’ve tried

I tried symlinking from `custom-theme` to `ghost-site`:

```auto
ln -s ~/dev/custom-theme/routes.yaml \
      ~/dev/ghost-site/current/content/settings/routes.yaml

```

Creating the symlink had no effect, even after using ghost-cli to restart the local dev server.

# Questions

1. Does the manual upload process trigger a db write of some kind that’s necessary for Ghost to pick up the `routes.yaml` changes?
2. Slightly tangential: is there somewhere where I can read more about the role the `/current` dir plays in Ghost installs? It hasn’t really clicked for me when I should be updating `/current` vs the non-current paths.