---
title: "Page Custom URLs"
description: "Essence Ghost theme page URLs. Posts sit at /{slug}/, the hero needs a page with the slug home-hero, and tag and author prefixes change in routes.yaml."
url: "https://www.priority.vision/docs/essence/page-custom-urls"
scope: theme
appliesTo: [Essence]
lastUpdated: 2026-10-01
---

# Custom Pages URLs

Posts live at root-level permalinks (`/{slug}/`). This guide covers the page patterns Essence supports and how to customize URLs and navigation.

## Built-in page patterns

| Page type | How it works |
|-----------|--------------|
| **Posts** | Published at `/{slug}/` via the root collection in `routes.yaml` |
| **Tag archives** | `/tag/{slug}/` — taxonomy route |
| **Author archives** | `/author/{slug}/` — taxonomy route |
| **Contact** | Create a Ghost page with slug `contact` |
| **Home hero** | Create a Ghost page with slug `home-hero` |
| **404** | Theme provides `error-404.hbs` automatically |

## Customizing page slugs

Most pages are regular Ghost pages. To use a custom URL:

1. Create or edit the page in Ghost admin
1. Set the **Page URL** (slug) to your desired path — e.g. `about` instead of `contact`
1. Add a navigation item pointing to that path

For the homepage hero, keep the slug as `home-hero` — the theme looks up this slug specifically.

## Customizing taxonomy URLs

Tag and author archive URLs are defined in `routes.yaml`:

```yaml
taxonomies:
  tag: /tag/{slug}/
  author: /author/{slug}/
```

To change prefixes (e.g. `/topic/` instead of `/tag/`), edit and re-upload `routes.yaml` via **Settings → Advanced → Labs**.

## Error page

Essence includes a styled 404 page via `error-404.hbs`. No setup is required — Ghost serves it automatically for missing URLs.

## Removing pages

- **Ghost pages** (contact, etc.): Unpublish or delete the page in Ghost admin, then remove any navigation links
- **Home hero**: Unpublish the `home-hero` page; the hero falls back to site title and description
- **Tag/author archives**: These are automatic — you cannot remove them without editing `routes.yaml`

## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.priority.vision/docs/essence/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.