Ghost CMS: Transactional vs. Newsletter Email
Ghost has two separate email brains. Learn how we handle the System side, and how to connect Mailgun for your audience.
The "Split-Brain" Architecture
Unlike WordPress, which typically funnels all email through one pipe, Ghost CMS was architected with two distinct email pipelines to protect deliverability.
Many users deploy a server and ask: "My password resets work, so why can't I send my newsletter?"
The answer lies in how Ghost separates Critical Operations from Marketing Blasts.
The Email Ecosystem
1. Transactional (System)
Critical, one-to-one emails sent by the server to specific users.
✓ Managed by Leapjuice- Sign-up / Sign-in Links
- Password Resets
- Staff Invitations
- Payment Receipts
2. Newsletters (Bulk)
One-to-many blasts sent to your entire subscriber list at once.
⚠ Requires Mailgun API- Weekly Blog Posts
- Product Announcements
- Subscriber Blasts
- "Test Emails" in Admin
Pipeline 1: Transactional (Leapjuice)
You do not need to configure anything here.
When we provision your Ghost instance on our Google C4D nodes, we automatically inject our Enterprise SMTP credentials into the server environment (config.production.json). This ensures that from the very first second your server is live, you can log in, invite staff, and accept member signups.
Note: These emails count toward the 2,500/month transactional limit included in your plan.
Pipeline 2: Newsletters (Mailgun)
Ghost is strictly opinionated software. The core team has hard-coded Mailgun as the only supported driver for bulk newsletters. This is to prevent your server IP from being blacklisted due to spam complaints.
Important: The "Test Email" Confusion
If you try to send a "Test Email" from a post editor before configuring Mailgun, it will likely fail. Ghost attempts to use the Bulk Pipeline for these tests, not the System Pipeline.
How to Connect Mailgun:
- Create an account at Mailgun.com.
- Verify your domain in Mailgun (Add the TXT/MX records they provide to your Leapjuice DNS manager).
- In Ghost Admin, navigate to Settings → Email Newsletter.
- Expand the Mailgun section.
- Paste your Mailgun Region, Domain, and Private API Key.
Once saved, your newsletter infrastructure is completely decoupled from your server infrastructure. This allows you to scale to 100,000+ subscribers without putting load on your Leapjuice node.
