GitHub Actions for GitHub Pages

This is a GitHub Action to deploy your static files to GitHub Pages. This deploy action can be combined simply and freely with Static Site Generators. (Hugo, MkDocs, Gatsby, GitBook, mdBook, etc.)

The next example step will deploy ./public directory to the remote gh-pages branch.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    # PERSONAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }}
    # GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

Three tokens are supported.

Token	Private repo	Public repo	Protocol	Setup
GITHUB_TOKEN	✅️	(1)	HTTPS	Unnecessary
PERSONAL_TOKEN	✅️	✅️	HTTPS	Necessary
ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY	✅️	✅️	SSH	Necessary

1. Currently, GitHub Actions does not support to trigger a GitHub Pages build event using GITHUB_TOKEN on a public repository.

Do you want to skip the docker build step? OK, the script mode is available.

- name: Deploy
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
    SCRIPT_MODE: true
  run: |
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peaceiris/actions-gh-pages/v2/entrypoint.sh
    bash ./entrypoint.sh    

Table of Contents

• Getting started
  • (1) Add SSH deploy key
  • (2) Create your workflow
    • ⭐️ Repository type - Project
    • ⭐️ Repository type - User and Organization
• Options
  • ⭐️ Pull action image from Docker Hub
  • ⭐️ PERSONAL_TOKEN
  • ⭐️ GITHUB_TOKEN
  • ⭐️ Suppressing empty commits
  • ⭐️ Keeping existing files
  • ⭐️ Deploy to external repository
  • ⭐️ Force orphan
  • ⭐️ Set Git username and email
  • ⭐️ Set custom commit message
  • ⭐️ Create Git tag
  • ⭐️ Script mode
• Tips and FAQ
  • ⭐️ Use the latest and specific release
  • ⭐️ How to add CNAME
  • ⭐️ Deployment completed but you cannot read
• Examples
  • ⭐️ Static Site Generators with Node.js
  • ⭐️ Gatsby
  • ⭐️ React and Next
  • ⭐️ Vue and Nuxt
  • ⭐️ Static Site Generators with Python
  • ⭐️ mdBook (Rust)
  • ⭐️ Flutter Web
  • ⭐️ Elm
• License
• About the author

Getting started

(1) Add SSH deploy key

Generate your deploy key with the following command.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "$(git config user.email)" -f gh-pages -N ""
# You will get 2 files:
#   gh-pages.pub (public key)
#   gh-pages     (private key)

Next, Go to Repository Settings

• Go to Deploy Keys and add your public key with the Allow write access
• Go to Secrets and add your private key as ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY

Add your public key	Success

Add your private key	Success

(2) Create your workflow

Add your workflow setting YAML file .github/workflows/gh-pages.yml and push to the default branch.

⭐️ Repository type - Project

An example workflow for Hugo.

• peaceiris/actions-hugo: GitHub Actions for Hugo

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      # with:
      #   submodules: true

    - name: Setup Hugo
      uses: peaceiris/actions-hugo@v2
      with:
        hugo-version: '0.59.1'

    - name: Build
      run: hugo --minify

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

The above example is for Project Pages sites. (<username>/<project_name> repository)

Actions log overview	Build step log

Deploy step log	GitHub Pages log

⭐️ Repository type - User and Organization

For User and Organization Pages sites (<username>/<username>.github.io repository), we have to set master branch to PUBLISH_BRANCH.

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - source  # default branch

PUBLISH_BRANCH: master  # deploying branch

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Options

⭐️ Pull action image from Docker Hub

You can pull a public docker image from Docker Hub. By pulling docker images, you can reduce the overall execution time of your workflow. In addition, latest tag is provided.

- uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
+ uses: docker://peaceiris/gh-pages:v2

• peaceiris/gh-pages - Docker Hub

⭐️ PERSONAL_TOKEN

Generate a personal access token (repo) and add it to Secrets as PERSONAL_TOKEN, it works as well as ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY.

- ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
+ PERSONAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }}

⭐️ GITHUB_TOKEN

⚠️ NOTES: GITHUB_TOKEN works only on a private repository.

This action supports GITHUB_TOKEN but it has some problems to deploy to GitHub Pages. GitHub team is investigating that. See Issue #9

- ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
+ GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

⭐️ Suppressing empty commits

By default, a commit will always be generated and pushed to the PUBLISH_BRANCH, even if nothing changed. If you want to suppress this behavior, set the optional parameter emptyCommits to false. cf. Issue #21

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
  with:
    emptyCommits: false

⭐️ Keeping existing files

By default, existing files in the publish branch are removed before adding the ones from publish dir. If you want the action to add new files but leave existing ones untouched, set the optional parameter keepFiles to true.

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
  with:
    keepFiles: true

⭐️ Deploy to external repository

By default, your files are published to the repository which is running this action. If you want to publish to another repository on GitHub, set the environment variable EXTERNAL_REPOSITORY to <username>/<external-repository>. This option is available from v2.5.0.

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    EXTERNAL_REPOSITORY: username/external-repository
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

You can use ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY or PERSONAL_TOKEN. When you use ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY, set your private key to the repository which includes this action and set your public key to your external repository.

Be careful, GITHUB_TOKEN has no permission to access to external repositories.

⭐️ Force orphan

From v2.6.0, we can set the forceOrphan: true option. This allows you to make your publish branch with only the latest commit.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
  with:
    forceOrphan: true

⭐️ Set Git username and email

Set custom git config user.name and git config user.email. A commit is always created with the same user.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
  with:
    username: "iris"
    useremail: "iris@peaceiris.com"

⭐️ Set custom commit message

Set custom commit message. When we create a commit with a message docs: Update some post, a deployment commit will be generated with a message docs: Update some post ${GITHUB_SHA}.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
  with:
    commitMessage: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}

⭐️ Create Git tag

Here is an example workflow.

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master
    tags:
    - 'v*.*.*'

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Some build

    - name: Prepare tag
      id: prepare_tag
      if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
      run: |
        TAG_NAME="${GITHUB_REF##refs/tags/}"
        echo "::set-output name=tag_name::${TAG_NAME}"
        echo "::set-output name=deploy_tag_name::deploy-${TAG_NAME}"        

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
      with:
        tagName: ${{ steps.prepare_tag.outputs.deploy_tag_name }}
        tagMessage: 'Deployment ${{ steps.prepare_tag.outputs.tag_name }}'

Commands on a local machine.

$ # On the master branch
$ git tag -a "v1.2.3" -m "Release v1.2.3"
$ git push origin "v1.2.3"

$ # After deployment
$ git fetch origin
$ git tag
deploy-v1.2.3  # Tag on the gh-pages branch
v1.2.3         # Tag on the master branch

We can set tagOverwrite option to true for overwriting a tag.

⭐️ Script mode

From v2.5.0, we can run this action as a shell script. There is no Docker build or pull step, so it will start immediately.

• ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY requires SCRIPT_MODE: true
• *_TOKEN do not require SCRIPT_MODE

- name: Deploy
  env:
    ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
    PUBLISH_DIR: ./public
    SCRIPT_MODE: true
  run: |
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peaceiris/actions-gh-pages/v2/entrypoint.sh
    bash ./entrypoint.sh    

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Tips and FAQ

⭐️ Use the latest and specific release

We recommend you to use the latest and specific release of this action for stable CI/CD. It is useful to watch this repository (release only) to check the latest release of this action.

⭐️ How to add CNAME

Most of the Static Site Generators support CNAME as a static file.

• Use a Custom Domain | Hugo
• Using the Static folder | GatsbyJS

The same may be said of other files (.nojekyll, BingSiteAuth.xml, robots.txt, etc.). It is better to manage those files by Static Site Generators.

Does not your static site generator deal with the static files? No problem, you can add the file like the following.

- name: Build
  run: |
    buildcommand
    cp ./path/to/CNAME ./public/CNAME    

- name: Deploy

⭐️ Deployment completed but you cannot read

Does your PUBLISH_DIR contain files or directories that name starts with an underscore? (_modules, _sources and _next, etc.) GitHub Pages does not read those by default. Please add .nojekyll file to PUBLISH_DIR.

• Bypassing Jekyll on GitHub Pages - The GitHub Blog

It is now possible to completely bypass Jekyll processing on GitHub Pages by creating a file named .nojekyll in the root of your pages repo and pushing it to GitHub. This should only be necessary if your site uses files or directories that start with underscores since Jekyll considers these to be special resources and does not copy them to the final site.

Does not your static site generator deal with the static files? No problem, you can add the file like the following.

- name: Build
  run: |
    buildcommand
    touch ./public/.nojekyll    

- name: Deploy

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Examples

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Node.js

hexo, gitbook, vuepress, react-static, gridsome, etc.

Premise: Dependencies are managed by package.json and package-lock.json

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v1
      with:
        node-version: '10.x'

    - name: Cache dependencies
      uses: actions/cache@v1
      with:
        path: ~/.npm
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-node-          

    - run: npm ci

    - run: npm run build

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

⭐️ Gatsby

An example for Gatsby (Gatsby.js) project with gatsby-starter-blog

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v1
      with:
        node-version: '10.x'

    - name: Cache dependencies
      uses: actions/cache@v1
      with:
        path: ~/.npm
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-node-          

    - run: npm ci

    - run: npm run format

    - run: npm run test

    - run: npm run build

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

⭐️ React and Next

An example for Next.js (React.js) project with create-next-app

• cf. Deploying a Next.js app into GitHub Pages · zeit/next.js Wiki

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v1
      with:
        node-version: '10.x'

    - name: Get yarn cache
      id: yarn-cache
      run: echo "::set-output name=dir::$(yarn cache dir)"

    - name: Cache dependencies
      uses: actions/cache@v1
      with:
        path: ${{ steps.yarn-cache.outputs.dir }}
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-          

    - run: yarn install

    - run: yarn build

    - run: yarn export

    - run: touch ./out/.nojekyll

    - name: deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./out

⭐️ Vue and Nuxt

An example for Nuxt.js (Vue.js) project with create-nuxt-app

• cf. GitHub Pages Deployment - Nuxt.js

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v1
      with:
        node-version: '10.x'

    - name: Cache dependencies
      uses: actions/cache@v1
      with:
        path: ~/.npm
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-node-          

    - run: npm ci

    - run: npm test

    - run: npm run generate

    - name: deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./dist

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Python

pelican, MkDocs, sphinx, etc.

Premise: Dependencies are managed by requirements.txt

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v1
      with:
        python-version: '3.6'
        architecture: 'x64'

    - name: Cache dependencies
      uses: actions/cache@v1
      with:
        path: ~/.cache/pip
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/requirements.txt') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-pip-          

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
        python3 -m pip install -r ./requirements.txt        

    - run: mkdocs build

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./site

⭐️ mdBook (Rust)

An example GitHub Actions workflow to deploy rust-lang/mdBook site to GitHub Pages.

• peaceiris/actions-mdbook: GitHub Actions for mdBook (rust-lang/mdBook)

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - master

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:

    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      with:
        fetch-depth: 1

    - name: Setup mdBook
      uses: peaceiris/actions-mdbook@v1
      with:
        mdbook-version: '0.3.5'
        # mdbook-version: 'latest'

    - run: mdbook build

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./book

⭐️ Flutter Web

An exapmle workflow for Flutter web project. Setup Flutter with subosito/flutter-action.

peanut | Dart Package is also useful.

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1

    - name: Setup Flutter
      uses: subosito/flutter-action@v1
      with:
        channel: 'beta'

    - name: Install
      run: |
        flutter config --enable-web
        flutter pub get        

    - name: Build
      run: flutter build web

    - name: Deploy
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
      env:
        ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
        PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
        PUBLISH_DIR: ./build/web

⭐️ Elm

An exapmle workflow for Elm with justgook/setup-elm.

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup Elm
        uses: justgook/setup-elm@v1

      - name: Make
        run: elm make --optimize src/Main.elm

      - name: Move files
        run: |
          mkdir ./public
          mv ./index.html ./public/          
        # If you have non-minimal setup with some assets and separate html/js files,
        # provide --output=<output-file> option for `elm make` and remove this step

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v2
        env:
          ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
          PUBLISH_BRANCH: gh-pages
          PUBLISH_DIR: ./public

License

• MIT License - peaceiris/actions-gh-pages

About the author

• peaceiris's homepage

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