GitHub Pages Deployment

Deploy static frontend websites to GitHub Pages using the GitHub CLI.

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated
• Git installed
• A frontend project (HTML, CSS, JS) ready to deploy

Deployment Workflow

1. Initialize Git Repository (if needed)

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

2. Create GitHub Repository

# Create public repo (required for free GitHub Pages)
gh repo create <repo-name> --public --source=. --push

3. Enable GitHub Pages

# Enable GitHub Pages from main branch root
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pages -X POST -f build_type=legacy -f source='{"branch":"main","path":"/"}'

Or for docs folder:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pages -X POST -f build_type=legacy -f source='{"branch":"main","path":"/docs"}'

4. Check Deployment Status

# Get pages info
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pages

# View deployment status
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pages/builds/latest

5. Get Site URL

The site will be available at: https://<username>.github.io/<repo-name>/

Quick Deploy Script

For a complete deployment in one flow:

# Variables
REPO_NAME="my-site"

# Initialize and commit
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

# Create repo and push
gh repo create $REPO_NAME --public --source=. --push

# Wait for push to complete, then enable pages
sleep 2
OWNER=$(gh api user --jq '.login')
gh api repos/$OWNER/$REPO_NAME/pages -X POST -f build_type=legacy -f source='{"branch":"main","path":"/"}'

# Get the URL
echo "Site will be at: https://$OWNER.github.io/$REPO_NAME/"

Troubleshooting

• Pages not enabled: Ensure repo is public or you have GitHub Pro
• 404 error: Wait 1-2 minutes for deployment, check if index.html exists at root
• Build failed: Check GitHub Actions tab for errors

Updating the Site

After making changes:

git add .
git commit -m "Update site"
git push

GitHub Pages will automatically rebuild.