Twitter card shows correctly in validators, but X still won’t display image for Ghost posts

Bugs
1

Hi everyone,

I am having a persistent issue with Twitter/X cards for posts published on a Ghost site and would love some insight from the community.

  • Site: [https://status.app/blog/...]

  • Problem:

    • When I run my post URLs through Twitter/X card preview tools and other card/OG debuggers, the card looks correct:

      • twitter:card is summary_large_image

      • twitter:image and og:image point to a valid HTTPS image

      • All metadata appears as expected.

    • However, when posting the same URLs on X:

      • The image often does not show in the tweet preview.

      • This links to auto‑shortened not working properly.

      • The issue is reproducible across different X accounts and clients and only affects URLs from this Ghost blog.

Important details:

  • There was never an “early” version of these posts without an image; the feature/OG/Twitter image was present from first publish.

  • Other websites’ URLs show Twitter cards normally from the same X account.

  • X’s card validator says everything is fine (no errors, card loads successfully).

  • Third‑party preview tools (OG/Twitter card testers) also show the correct image and metadata.

What I’ve already tried:

  • Confirmed that:

    • og:image and twitter:image are absolute HTTPS URLs that load publicly in a browser.

    • twitter:card is set to summary_large_image.

    • There are no obvious duplicate/conflicting OG/Twitter tags in the page <head>.

  • Tested tweeting:

    • Plain URL only.

    • URL + text, without attaching any extra image.

  • Waited for X cache to refresh and re‑tested later.

Questions for the Ghost community:

  1. Has anyone seen a pattern where Ghost posts’ cards are correct in validators but X randomly refuses to show the image only for Ghost URLs?

  2. Are there known Ghost‑specific edge cases with Twitter/X (for example around CDNs, redirects, or how twitter:image is generated) that could cause this behavior, even if validators look fine?

  3. Is there any recommended workaround from the Ghost side, such as:

    • Forcing a different twitter:image URL pattern,

    • Adjusting theme metadata,

    • Or changing anything in ghost_head that has helped others with similar issues?

Any pointers, similar experiences, or theme/config tweaks that have worked for you would be very helpful.

2

You’ve chosen to skip the entire bug report template, which will make it hard for anyone to help diagnose or fix your problem.

Here it is again:

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Steps to Reproduce

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3

Hi Cathy, thanks for the nudge, and sorry again for not following the template initially.

I’ve now double-checked the setup while reworking the post, and there’s an important clarification:

This is a headless Ghost setup, not a classic Ghost theme or Ghost(Pro) install. Ghost is used via the Content API only (ghost.status.im), and the public blog (status.app/blog) is rendered by a custom frontend hosted on Vercel. I only have editor access, so I don’t have visibility into infra details beyond that.

To align with the template as much as I can, here’s the corrected setup info:

Ghost Version: Unknown (headless Ghost, editor access only)

Node.js Version: Managed by hosting provider (Vercel)

How did you install Ghost? Headless Ghost (API-only usage)

Host & OS: Custom frontend on Vercel + separate Ghost instance

Database: Managed by Ghost instance

Given this setup, I’m no longer assuming this is a Ghost core bug. The behavior looks very similar to X/Twitter image proxy + caching issues, but since it only reproduces with URLs backed by Ghost content, I wanted to sanity-check with the community whether anyone running headless Ghost + custom frontend has seen similar behavior or edge cases.

If this belongs in developer help rather than bugs, happy to move it, just wanted to avoid missing any Ghost-specific quirks before closing the loop on our side.

Thanks for your patience.

4

Hi Cathy. I have had the same problem with Ghost, since set up. Pics randomly show up on X, however as of late posts show up, but none of the images appear.