Connect beehiiv or Ghost

Before you start

Karrow reads the issues you publish so it can turn them into posts in your own voice. To do that it needs an API key from your newsletter platform. Karrow uses the key only to read your published issues: it never posts, edits, or deletes your content in beehiiv or Ghost. The one thing it adds is a webhook, so new issues arrive as you publish them. Note that a Ghost Admin API key can do more than read (it has full access to your site), so keep it private.

Connecting a newsletter is free, and so is drafting from its issues. You only need Karrow Pro when you schedule or publish a post. Ghost works whether your site is on Ghost(Pro) or self-hosted.

Where do I find my beehiiv or Ghost API key?

In beehiiv, go to Settings → Workspace → API and create a key. One beehiiv key covers every publication in that beehiiv workspace, so you only need one even if you run several newsletters there.

In Ghost, go to Settings → Integrations → Add custom integration, then copy its Admin API key and your site’s URL. Use the Admin API key, not the Content API key on the same screen: an Admin key has two parts joined by a colon, and Karrow rejects anything else as “Invalid or unauthorized API key”.

For the site URL, your site’s address is enough, for example https://blog.example.com. If you leave off https:// Karrow adds it, and if you paste your admin address with /ghost on the end, Karrow drops the extra path.

Connect it to Karrow

1. 1Open Publications from the sidebar and click Connect. You can also start from Settings → API keys → Connect a publication.
2. 2In the “Connect a publication” window, choose beehiiv or Ghost.
3. 3For beehiiv, paste your key into the beehiiv API key field and click Continue. Choose which publications to connect (new ones are already ticked), then click Connect. The button shows how many you picked.
4. 4For Ghost, enter your Ghost site URL and Admin API key, then click Connect.
5. 5When you see “Publication connected”, click Done.

If beehiiv says every publication on the key is already connected, you have nothing new to add. Use a different key, or manage the existing ones in Settings → API keys.

Which issues does Karrow import?

Karrow imports your 12 most recent published issues when you connect, then adds each new issue you publish after that. Issues older than those first 12 are not imported.

From beehiiv, Karrow reads the email version of each issue. If an issue has a premium version, that is the one Karrow keeps. Issues sent only to paid subscribers are marked premium in your issue list. A post with no email content is skipped. From Ghost, Karrow reads each published post’s content.

The import runs in the background, so you can close the window and keep working. While it runs, the publication card says “Importing back catalog…” and, until the first issues arrive, the issue search in a new post says “Importing back catalogue…”. Open the publication to see its Issues tab, which lists each issue with its date and word count.

Any imported issue can become posts, not only the newest. When Karrow drafts from one, it reads up to five of that publication’s other recent issues to match its voice.

How fast do new issues show up in Karrow?

A new issue usually appears within 15 minutes of publishing, and often sooner. Karrow checks every connected publication for new issues every 15 minutes, and when you connect it also registers a webhook with beehiiv or Ghost so an issue can arrive the moment it’s sent.

If your beehiiv plan doesn’t allow webhooks, nothing breaks: the 15-minute check still picks up every new issue.

Karrow can also email you when a new issue arrives, so you can turn it into posts. Turn this on or off with New-issue alerts in Settings → Notifications. The alert only goes out for issues published in the last 48 hours, so the first import never floods your inbox.

Manage your keys later

Settings → API keys lists every key by its source and last four characters, with its status: Active, or Reconnect needed if the key stops working. From there you can Update key, Add publication (beehiiv), or Disconnect.

A key usually stops working because it was deleted or regenerated in beehiiv or Ghost. The publication card then says “Connection error, reconnect needed”. Click Update key, paste a working key, and click Save key. Karrow checks the new key first, and one update fixes every publication on that key.

Pasting a key you already connected doesn’t create a duplicate. Karrow recognises the key and adds any new publications to the existing entry.

Disconnecting a key removes its publications, all of their imported issues, and the channels connected to those publications from Karrow. It never touches your newsletter itself.

If Karrow says the source is rate-limiting it, beehiiv or Ghost is asking it to slow down. Wait a minute and try again.