> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ectobuilder.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to Add Custom Ghost Admin Settings to a Theme (No Code) - URL: https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-custom-theme-settings/ - Published: 2026-10-23T10:29:35.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T17:32:18.000Z - Description: Let clients and editors change headlines, images and whole sections from Ghost Admin, without editing package.json or Handlebars. How custom theme settings work, the 20-setting limit, and what your client sees. - Author: Michal Wlosik - Tags: Guides, Themes You built a Ghost site for a client, or for an editor on your own team. A week later they want a new headline, a different photo on the homepage, or the testimonials hidden for a while. If those live in the theme, every change goes back to whoever made the theme. Ghost has a fix for this: **custom theme settings**. They show up in Ghost Admin next to the logo and brand color, and anyone who can edit the site can change them. This guide shows how to add them to your theme without editing `package.json` or Handlebars, and what your client sees. ![Ghost Admin’s Design & branding screen with custom theme settings: hero headline, intro, image, button text, footer text, contact email and on/off switches for sections](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvjr2oxv.webp) What your client sees in Ghost Admin: the theme’s own settings next to a live preview. ## What custom theme settings are A Ghost theme can declare up to **20 settings** of its own. Ghost lists them in **Settings → Design & branding**, on the **Theme** tab, with a preview of the site beside them. Change one, click Save, and the site updates. No theme upload, no code. Normally the theme developer declares each setting in the theme’s `package.json` and then reads it in the templates with `@custom`. In Ectobuilder you switch it on for the element instead, and the theme is written for you when you deploy. ## What you can make editable - **Text.** A headline, an intro, a button label, a footer line, an email address. The words on the page when you deploy become the starting value. - **Images.** A hero photo, a logo in a section, a background picture. If your client clears the image in Ghost, the one you chose comes back. - **Whole sections, on or off.** Testimonials, a features row, a signup banner. Your client switches them off for a while and back on later, without deleting anything. Colors, fonts and layout aren’t client settings: you set them in Ectobuilder’s Style panel, and they apply to the whole theme. Text that contains links or formatting stays fixed too, since a plain text field in Ghost can’t hold it. Lists of posts, tags and the navigation already come from Ghost, so there’s nothing to add there. ## How to add a custom setting in Ghost ### 1\. Select the text or image Open your theme in [Ectobuilder](https://www.ectobuilder.com/) and click the headline, paragraph or picture you want your client to control. ### 2\. Turn on “Editable in Ghost Admin” In the right panel, scroll to the **Ghost** group and turn on **Editable in Ghost Admin**. Then give it a name your client will understand, like “Hero headline” or “Homepage photo”. That name is the label they’ll see in Ghost. ![The Ectobuilder editor with the homepage headline selected and the Ghost group open in the right panel: Editable in Ghost Admin is on, with a Name in Ghost Admin field](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvo3tpzz.webp) (1) Select the headline. (2) Turn on Editable in Ghost Admin and name it. ### 3\. Let sections be switched off For a whole section, select it in the Sections list and turn on **On/off in Ghost Admin** under Advanced. Name it as a question your client can answer with a switch, like “Show testimonials”. It starts switched on. ![The Advanced group of a section in Ectobuilder with On/off in Ghost Admin turned on and named Show testimonials](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvo3ko3m.webp) A section your client can switch off from Ghost Admin. ### 4\. Check the list Open **Settings → Ghost Settings** to see every setting in the theme, with the count out of 20\. Remove one there and it goes back to fixed content everywhere it was used. ![The Theme settings list in Ectobuilder’s Ghost Settings: a heading and a Show testimonials switch, 2 of 20 used](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvo3l8pw.webp) Every setting in one place, with what it starts as. ### 5\. Deploy Deploy the theme to Ghost. The settings arrive with it, ready under Design & branding. [![CTA Image](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2026/06/Ecto_builder_logo_sq_small.png)](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/login?mode=signup&plan=free&ref=ectobuilder.com) ****Let clients change their site without calling you.** Pick the text, images and sections they can change, and Ectobuilder writes the Ghost settings for you. [Try it free ](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/login?mode=signup&plan=free&ref=ectobuilder.com) ## Where your client changes them In Ghost Admin, they go to **Settings → Design & branding**, click **Customize** and open the **Theme** tab. Your settings are listed there with the preview beside them. They type, upload or flip a switch, watch the preview change, and click **Save**. Ghost sorts theme settings into Site-wide, Homepage and Post. Settings from Ectobuilder are listed under Site-wide, whichever page they’re on. ## Tips for good settings - **Name them for the client, not for you.** “Homepage photo” beats “Hero 5 image”. The name is all they see. - **Keep the list short.** Twenty is Ghost’s limit, not a target. Pick what really changes: the headline, the main photo, a seasonal banner. - **One name, one setting.** Give two elements the same name and they share one setting. Handy for a contact email that appears in the header and the footer. - **Keep names once you’ve deployed.** Ghost remembers what your client entered by setting. Rename a setting and Ghost treats it as a new one, starting again from your default. ## Related guides - [Landing pages with custom templates](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-landing-page-custom-template/): a page with its own design, picked per page in Ghost. - [The Ghost theme editor](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-theme-editor/): editing theme code in Ghost Admin. - [How to build your Ghost theme visually](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/build-ghost-theme-visually/): every step, from picking a theme to publishing it to Ghost. ## FAQ #### How many custom settings can a Ghost theme have? Twenty per theme. That’s Ghost’s limit, and Ectobuilder counts them for you in Settings → Ghost Settings. #### If I change the text in Ectobuilder later, does it overwrite what my client wrote? No. The words in Ectobuilder are the starting value. Once your client saves their own in Ghost, theirs stay when you deploy again, as long as the setting keeps its name. #### Can clients change colors or fonts? Not through these settings. Colors and fonts are part of the theme’s design, and you change them in Ectobuilder. #### Why can’t I make some text editable? Text with a link or formatting inside it, the navigation, and lists of posts or tags can’t become settings. Ghost’s text settings are plain text, and the navigation and post lists already come from Ghost. #### Do custom settings slow the site down? No. Ghost fills them in on the server when it builds the page, so visitors get the same plain HTML as before. [![CTA Image](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2026/06/Ecto_builder_logo_sq_small.png)](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/login?mode=signup&plan=free&ref=ectobuilder.com) ****Build a Ghost theme your clients can run themselves.** Design it visually, choose what they can change, and deploy straight to Ghost. [Start building ](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/login?mode=signup&plan=free&ref=ectobuilder.com)