FAQ

Plain answers. If a question you have isn’t here, email me and I’ll answer it — and probably add it to the page.

The product

Does Specter have AI built in?

No — and that’s the point. Specter doesn’t lock you into one model or charge you for tokens. It turns your CMS into plain markdown files on your Mac, so the AI tools you already use — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or your own scripts — can read and rewrite them. Specter is the bridge; you bring the intelligence.

The benefit of separating the sync layer from the AI layer is that you get to pick the model that works best for your content, and you don’t pay twice. If you already pay $20/month for Claude or ChatGPT, that subscription covers your Specter workflow too.

What can I actually do with AI once my site is local?

Anything a tool can do to a folder of text — and now with the whole site in view. Examples that work today:

• Rewrite or expand drafts with full awareness of the rest of your archive
• Translate every post into five languages and push each as a localized post
• Generate meta descriptions and SEO titles across your whole archive
• Weave accurate internal links during generation (because the AI can see what else exists)
• Enforce a style guide globally — heading hierarchy, brand voice, oxford comma
• Batch-fix tags, slugs, or frontmatter that drifted over years of editing
• Find duplicate intros, near-duplicate posts, or content that contradicts itself
• Pivot a product mention or marketing angle across thousands of pages in one pass

All of these are things the CMS editor makes you do one post at a time. With Specter they’re a single AI run plus a sync.

Does Specter work with Shopify, WordPress, and Ghost the same way?

Yes. The workflow is identical: connect the CMS, pick a local folder, edit the markdown with any tool, and Specter syncs both directions. The capability surface varies slightly by platform — Ghost cards versus WordPress blocks versus Shopify article HTML — but the core round-trip works the same way for all three.

See the Capabilities matrix for the precise current state of each connector.

Can I migrate content between CMSes with Specter?

Yes. Because Specter handles all three platforms in the same clean markdown format, you can pull from WordPress and push to Shopify, or Ghost to WordPress, by changing where the same folder syncs.

It won’t carry over platform-exclusive features 1:1 — Shopify-specific metafields, Ghost-specific cards, WP custom blocks may need attention — but the body, frontmatter, tags, and slugs port cleanly. The Capabilities matrix is the reference for what crosses cleanly and what doesn’t.

Which versions does Specter support?

• Ghost 5.x and later, via Admin API. Self-hosted and Ghost(Pro).
• WordPress 5.6+ for Application Passwords. Self-hosted, WordPress.com Business and above, managed hosts (WP Engine, Kinsta, Pantheon, Pressable, etc.).
• Shopify any current plan, via Admin API and a Specter-signed app install.

If you’re on an older version and can’t upgrade, tell me what you’re running and I’ll see if there’s a workable path.

Sync behavior

Will it overwrite my work?

Not without asking. By default Specter flags conflicts — where both you and the CMS changed the same post since the last sync — and shows you a dialog with the two versions and a diff. You can pick one, hand-merge, or set a default of “always keep mine” or “always keep the CMS’s” if you’d rather not be interrupted.

Is there a free version?

Yes, if you use the open-source project and build it yourself. The official signed macOS app requires Specter Pro.

Once Pro is active, sync is unlimited across every connected site and platform, with automatic updates and priority support included.

How fast is sync?

Outbound (local → CMS) is usually within 5–15 seconds in continuous mode. Inbound (CMS → local) runs on a configurable interval, default 60 seconds.

The initial pull when you first connect is slower — a 500-post site might take 90 seconds; a 5,000-post site might take ten minutes. After the initial pull, only changed posts move, which keeps every subsequent sync fast.

What about images, themes, members, newsletters?

Specter syncs text content — body, title, tags/categories, status, slug, feature image URL, custom excerpt, and the platform’s frontmatter equivalents. It doesn’t touch images (you reference them by URL), themes, plugins, members, customers, orders, or newsletter systems. That’s by design: Specter does sync well, and only sync.

Images stay on whatever host they live on — your CMS’s media library, a CDN, an S3 bucket. Specter syncs the URL reference; the image itself never moves.

Does it work with Obsidian?

Yes — point Specter at a folder inside your Obsidian vault. Both apps read plain markdown, so they coexist without stepping on each other. Edits made in Obsidian are picked up by Specter’s file watcher; edits made in Specter (rare) appear in Obsidian instantly.

If you were using the old Obsidian Ghost-sync plugin, Specter is a strict upgrade: same file format, runs in its own process, handles Shopify and WordPress in addition to Ghost.

Pricing and licensing

What does it cost?

$99/year for the official Specter Pro app. The open-source project is free forever on GitHub. Full pricing detail here.

Same price for all three CMSes?

Yes. Your $99/year subscription covers as many sites and as many platforms as you want to connect. There’s no per-CMS upgrade.

Can I run Specter on more than one Mac?

One license, two Macs (e.g. a desktop and a laptop). If you replace a machine, deactivate the old and activate the new — no separate purchase. For more than two machines, email me and we’ll work it out.

Can I get a refund?

Yes — within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked. Email me and I’ll process it the same day.

Do you charge for updates?

No. Every update while you’re subscribed — point releases, major versions, new platform connectors, new features. Your $99/year subscription keeps the app current.

Privacy and security

Does my content stay on my Mac?

Yes. Specter is local-first: your markdown files live on your disk, in a folder you pick. Specter pushes copies up to your CMS and pulls them back — no cloud middleman, no third-party server, no telemetry on your post bodies.

Where are credentials stored?

In the macOS Keychain, encrypted by the OS. OAuth tokens, Application Passwords, Admin API keys — all of them. Specter never writes credentials to its own config files in plaintext.

What goes over the network?

Two things: direct HTTPS calls from your Mac to your CMS admin endpoint (no proxy through our servers), and an occasional license-verification ping that sends your license key and a hashed machine ID. No content, no site URLs, no usage telemetry on what you’re syncing.

Is Specter open source?

Yes. The open-source project is available on GitHub and is free forever. Specter Pro is the paid official app with signed builds, automatic updates, license activation, and priority support.

Platform and roadmap

macOS only?

For now, yes. Specter runs on macOS 13 (Ventura) or later, on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Windows and Linux are on the roadmap; no shipping date yet.

What’s the next platform connector?

Not committing publicly — but Webflow, Sanity, and Contentful are the most-asked. The next connector ships when one of them has the round-trip fidelity to deserve being on the Capabilities matrix without an asterisk.

Will there ever be a web/SaaS version?

Long-term, yes — a collaborative web app for teams and agencies sits on the strategic roadmap. It’s not shipped, not in beta, not promised by a date. The thing this site sells today is the macOS app. When the web version is real, it’ll have its own page.

Who builds Specter?

Specter is built by Axel Antas-Bergkvist under Brilliant Rebels (aabergkvist AB), an indie studio in Sweden. I’ve run SEO sites for 20 years and operate multiple revenue-generating Shopify, WordPress, and Ghost sites on this exact tool. I built it for my own work, then productized it. More on the about page.

Support and questions: support@spectersync.com.