Create a custom integration in Ghost
A custom integration is how Ghost lets an outside tool talk to your blog. It is a small record you create in your admin settings that hands out the credentials a program needs — an API key and an API URL — so the tool can read and write your posts on your behalf. If you are connecting Specter, or any other app that syncs or automates your Ghost content, this is the one piece of setup you cannot skip. The good news is it takes about a minute.
What a custom integration is for
Ghost ships with a handful of built-in integrations for popular services, but for anything else — your own scripts, a sync tool, an automation — you create a custom integration. Doing so generates two API keys: a Content API key, which is read-only and meant for public-facing display, and an Admin API key, which can both read and write your posts. A tool that edits or syncs your content needs the Admin key. Picking the wrong one is the single most common setup mistake, so it is worth flagging up front: for Specter, you want the Admin API key, not the Content key.
Step by step
Sign in to your Ghost admin area — the address is your site followed by /ghost. Open Settings, then find Advanced and choose Integrations. You will see Ghost’s built-in integrations listed; below them is the option you want.
Click Add custom integration, give it a name you will recognize later — “Specter” is a fine choice — and confirm. Ghost creates the integration and immediately shows you its credentials.
On that screen you will see the Content API Key, the Admin API Key, and the API URL. The Admin API key looks like two long strings joined by a colon — an id:secret pair. Copy the Admin API Key and the API URL; together they are everything an external tool needs to authenticate. Keep them somewhere safe and treat the Admin key like a password, because anyone who has it can edit your blog.
That is the whole flow. The integration stays in your settings, and you can revisit it any time to copy the keys again or delete it to revoke access.
Connecting it to Specter
With the Admin API key and API URL in hand, the rest is quick. Specter is a native macOS app that syncs your Ghost blog down to a folder of plain markdown files and back up again. You paste the API URL and Admin key into Specter, it tests the connection before going any further, and then you pick the folder where your posts will live. The full walkthrough is in connecting Specter and running your first sync.
If you want a closer look specifically at the key itself — the difference between the Admin and Content keys, the id:secret format, and the mistakes people hit — see the companion guide on getting your Ghost Admin API key. Between the two, you will have your blog connected and pulled down to local markdown, ready for whatever editing or AI workflow you came here to set up.