GitHub Pages action

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, mdBook, Next, Nuxt, and so on.)

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

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public

Supported Tokens

Three tokens are supported.

Token	Private repo	Public repo	Protocol	Setup
`github_token`	✅️	✅️	HTTPS	Unnecessary
`deploy_key`	✅️	✅️	SSH	Necessary
`personal_token`	✅️	✅️	HTTPS	Necessary

Notes: Actually, the GITHUB_TOKEN works for deploying to GitHub Pages but it has still some limitations. For the first deployment, we need to select the gh-pages branch or master branch on the repository settings tab. See First Deployment with GITHUB_TOKEN

And you may need to push manually for the first deployment on a private repository. See Issue #349

Supported Platforms

All Actions runners: Linux (Ubuntu), macOS, and Windows are supported.

runs-on	`github_token`	`deploy_key`	`personal_token`
ubuntu-20.04	✅️	✅️	✅️
ubuntu-18.04	✅️	✅️	✅️
ubuntu-16.04	✅️	✅️	✅️
macos-latest	✅️	✅️	✅️
windows-latest	✅️	(2)	✅️

WIP, See Issue #87

Getting started

⭐️ Repository type - Project

Add your workflow file .github/workflows/gh-pages.yml and push to the remote master branch.

An example workflow for Hugo.

peaceiris/actions-hugo: GitHub Actions for Hugo

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          submodules: true  # Fetch Hugo themes (true OR recursive)
          fetch-depth: 0    # Fetch all history for .GitInfo and .Lastmod

      - name: Setup Hugo
        uses: peaceiris/actions-hugo@v2
        with:
          hugo-version: '0.71.1'

      - name: Build
        run: hugo --minify

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./public

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

Actions log overview	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.

A default value of publish_branch is gh-pages.

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - source  # default branch

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

      - run: somebuild

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./public
          publish_branch: master  # deploying branch

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Options

⭐️ `github_token`

This option is for GITHUB_TOKEN, not a personal access token.

GitHub Actions runner automatically creates a GITHUB_TOKEN secret to use in your workflow. You can use the GITHUB_TOKEN to authenticate in a workflow run.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public

For more details about GITHUB_TOKEN: Authenticating with the GITHUB_TOKEN - GitHub Help

⭐️ `deploy_key`

Read Create SSH Deploy Key, create your SSH deploy key, and set the deploy_key option like the following.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    deploy_key: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    publish_dir: ./public

⭐️ `personal_token`

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

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    personal_token: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public

⭐️ `publish_branch`

A target branch to deploy to GitHub Pages. The default is gh-pages.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_branch: master  # default: gh-pages

⭐️ `publish_dir`

A target directory to deploy to GitHub Pages. The default is public.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./out  # default: public

⭐️ CNAME

To add CNAME file, we can set the cname option.

For more details about CNAME, read the official documentation: Managing a custom domain for your GitHub Pages site - GitHub Help

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    cname: github.com

⭐️ Enable Built-in Jekyll

If you want GitHub Pages to process your site with the static site generator Jekyll, set enable_jekyll to true.

github/personal-website is one of the examples using GitHub Pages built-in Jekyll.

By default, this action signals to GitHub Pages that the site shall not be processed with Jekyll. This is done by adding an empty .nojekyll file when publishing to the master or gh-pages branch. When a .nojekyll file already exists, this action does nothing.

Bypassing Jekyll makes the deployment faster and is necessary if you are deploying files or directories that start with underscores, since Jekyll considers these to be special resources and does not copy them to the final site. You only need to set enable_jekyll to true when you want to deploy a Jekyll-powered website and let GitHub Pages do the Jekyll processing.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    enable_jekyll: true

For more details about .nojekyll: Bypassing Jekyll on GitHub Pages - The GitHub Blog

⭐️ Allow empty commits

By default, a commit will not be generated when no file changes. If you want to allow an empty commit, set the optional parameter allow_empty_commit to true.

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    allow_empty_commit: true

⭐️ 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 keep_files to true.

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    keep_files: 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>.

For example:

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    deploy_key: ${{ secrets.ACTIONS_DEPLOY_KEY }}
    external_repository: username/external-repository
    publish_branch: master
    publish_dir: ./public

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

Note that GITHUB_TOKEN has no permission to access to external repositories. Please create a personal access token and set it to personal_token like personal_token: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }}.

Use case:

A GitHub Free Plan account cannot use the GitHub Pages in a private repository. To make your source contents private and deploy it with the GitHub Pages, you can deploy your site from a private repository to a public repository using this option.

peaceiris/homepage: A private repository running this action with external_repository: peaceiris/peaceiris.github.io
peaceiris/peaceiris.github.io: A public repository using GitHub Pages

⭐️ Force orphan

We can set the force_orphan: true option. This allows you to make your publish branch with only the latest commit.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    force_orphan: 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@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    user_name: 'github-actions[bot]'
    user_email: 'github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com'

⭐️ Set custom commit message

Set a 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@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    commit_message: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}

To set a full custom commit message without a triggered commit hash, use the full_commit_message option instead of the commit_message option.

- name: Deploy
  uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
  with:
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    publish_dir: ./public
    full_commit_message: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}

⭐️ Create Git tag

Here is an example workflow.

name: github pages

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

jobs:
  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@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./public
          tag_name: ${{ steps.prepare_tag.outputs.deploy_tag_name }}
          tag_message: '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

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Tips and FAQ

⭐️ Create 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

⭐️ First Deployment with `GITHUB_TOKEN`

The GITHUB_TOKEN has limitations for the first deployment so we have to select the GitHub Pages branch on the repository settings tab. After that, do the second deployment like the following pictures.

First deployment failed	Go to the settings tab

Select branch	Deploying again and succeed

⭐️ 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.

For continuous updating, we can use the GitHub native Dependabot. Here is an example configuration of the bot. The config file is located in .github/dependabot.yml.

version: 2
updates:
- package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
  directory: "/"
  schedule:
    interval: "daily"
  labels:
  - "dependencies:ci"
  commit-message:
    prefix: ci

See the official documentation for more details about the Dependabot: Keeping your dependencies updated automatically - GitHub Docs

⭐️ Schedule and Manual Deployment

For deploying regularly, we can set the on.schedule workflow trigger. See Scheduled events | Events that trigger workflows - GitHub Docs

For deploying manually, we can set the on.workflow_dispatch workflow trigger. See Manual events workflow_dispatch | Events that trigger workflows - GitHub Docs

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  schedule:
    - cron: "22 22 * * *"
  workflow_dispatch:

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

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Examples

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Node.js

hexo, vuepress, react-static, gridsome, and so on.

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

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        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@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./public

⭐️ Gatsby

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

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        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@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          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:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

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

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn-cache.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-

      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: yarn build
      - run: yarn export

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          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:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        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@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./dist

⭐️ Docusaurus

An example workflow for Docusaurus.

npx @docusaurus/init@next init website classic is useful to create a new Docusaurus project.

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
    paths:
      - '.github/workflows/deploy.yml'
      - 'website/**'

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: website
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

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

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn-cache.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-website-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-website-

      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: yarn build

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./website/build

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Python

pelican, MkDocs, sphinx, and so on.

Premise: Dependencies are managed by requirements.txt

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: '3.8'

      - name: Upgrade pip
        run: |
          # install pip=>20.1 to use "pip cache dir"
          python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

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

      - name: Cache dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.pip-cache.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/requirements.txt') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-pip-

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

      - run: mkdocs build

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          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@v2

      - name: Setup mdBook
        uses: peaceiris/actions-mdbook@v1
        with:
          mdbook-version: '0.3.7'
          # mdbook-version: 'latest'

      - run: mdbook build

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./book

⭐️ Flutter Web

An exapmle workflow for Flutter web project.

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup Flutter
        run: |
          git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git --depth 1 -b beta _flutter
          echo "::add-path::${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/_flutter/bin"

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

      - name: Build
        run: flutter build web

      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./build/web

⭐️ Elm

An exapmle workflow for Elm.

name: github pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.0
        with:
          node-version: '12.x'

      - name: Setup Elm
        run: npm install elm --global

      - 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@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./public

⭐️ github/personal-website

github/personal-website - Code that'll help you kickstart a personal website that showcases your work as a software developer.

# .github/workflows/github-pages.yml

name: GitHub Pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  schedule:
    - cron: '24 */24 * * *'  # Once a day

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./
          allow_empty_commit: true
          enable_jekyll: true
          cname: github.peaceiris.com

⭐️ Swift Publish

An example workflow for JohnSundell/Publish.

name: GitHub Pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

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

      - name: Setup JohnSundell/Publish
        run: |
          cd ${HOME}
          git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/JohnSundell/Publish.git
          cd ./Publish
          swift build -c release
          echo "::add-path::${HOME}/Publish/.build/release"

      - run: publish-cli generate

      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./Output

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License

MIT License - peaceiris/actions-gh-pages

Maintainer

Back to TOC ☝️

GitHub Action

GitHub Pages action

GitHub Actions for GitHub Pages

Supported Tokens

Supported Platforms

Table of Contents

Getting started

⭐️ Repository type - Project

⭐️ Repository type - User and Organization

Options

⭐️ github_token

⭐️ deploy_key

⭐️ personal_token

⭐️ publish_branch

⭐️ publish_dir

⭐️ CNAME

⭐️ Enable Built-in Jekyll

⭐️ Allow empty commits

⭐️ Keeping existing files

⭐️ Deploy to external repository

⭐️ Force orphan

⭐️ Set Git username and email

⭐️ Set custom commit message

⭐️ Create Git tag

Tips and FAQ

⭐️ Create SSH Deploy Key

⭐️ First Deployment with GITHUB_TOKEN

⭐️ Use the latest and specific release

⭐️ Schedule and Manual Deployment

Examples

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Node.js

⭐️ Gatsby

⭐️ React and Next

⭐️ Vue and Nuxt

⭐️ Docusaurus

⭐️ Static Site Generators with Python

⭐️ mdBook (Rust)

⭐️ Flutter Web

⭐️ Elm

⭐️ github/personal-website

⭐️ Swift Publish

License

Maintainer

⭐️ `github_token`

⭐️ `deploy_key`

⭐️ `personal_token`

⭐️ `publish_branch`

⭐️ `publish_dir`

⭐️ First Deployment with `GITHUB_TOKEN`