--- last_updated: 2020-01-06 type: reference, howto stage: Release group: Release Management info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers --- # Create a GitLab Pages website from scratch This tutorial shows you how to create a Pages site from scratch. You will start with a blank project and create your own CI file, which gives instruction to the [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/). When your CI/CD [pipeline](../../../../ci/pipelines/index.md) runs, the Pages site is created. This example uses the [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) Static Site Generator (SSG). Other SSGs follow similar steps. You do not need to be familiar with Jekyll or SSGs to complete this tutorial. ## Prerequisites To follow along with this example, start with a blank project in GitLab. Create three files in the root (top-level) directory. - `.gitlab-ci.yml` A YAML file that contains the commands you want to run. For now, leave the file's contents blank. - `index.html` An HTML file you can populate with whatever HTML content you'd like, for example: ```html Home

Hello World!

``` - [`Gemfile`](https://bundler.io/gemfile.html) A file that describes dependencies for Ruby programs. Populate it with this content: ```ruby source "https://rubygems.org" gem "jekyll" ``` ## Choose a Docker image In this example, the Runner uses a [Docker image](../../../../ci/docker/using_docker_images.md) to run scripts and deploy the site. This specific Ruby image is maintained on [DockerHub](https://hub.docker.com/_/ruby). Edit your `.gitlab-ci.yml` and add this text as the first line. ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 ``` If your SSG needs [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) to build, you must specify an image that contains NodeJS as part of its file system. For example, for a [Hexo](https://gitlab.com/pages/hexo) site, you can use `image: node:12.17.0`. ## Install Jekyll To run [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) locally, you would open your terminal and: - Install [Bundler](https://bundler.io/) by running `gem install bundler`. - Create `Gemfile.lock` by running `bundle install`. - Install Jekyll by running `bundle exec jekyll build`. In the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, this is written as: ```yaml script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build ``` In addition, in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, each `script` is organized by a `job`. A `job` includes the scripts and settings you want to apply to that specific task. ```yaml job: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build ``` For GitLab Pages, this `job` has a specific name, called `pages`. This setting tells the Runner you want the job to deploy your website with GitLab Pages: ```yaml pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build ``` ## Specify the `public` directory for output Jekyll needs to know where to generate its output. GitLab Pages only considers files in a directory called `public`. Jekyll uses destination (`-d`) to specify an output directory for the built website: ```yaml pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public ``` ## Specify the `public` directory for artifacts Now that Jekyll has output the files to the `public` directory, the Runner needs to know where to get them. The artifacts are stored in the `public` directory: ```yaml pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public ``` Paste this into `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, so it now looks like this: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public ``` Now save and commit the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. You can watch the pipeline run by going to **CI / CD > Pipelines**. When it succeeds, go to **Settings > Pages** to view the URL where your site is now available. If you want to do more advanced tasks, you can update your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file with [any of the available settings](../../../../ci/yaml/README.md). See [Validate the `.gitlab-ci.yml`](../../../../ci/yaml/README.md#validate-the-gitlab-ciyml) for instructions on validating your YAML file with the Lint tool included with GitLab. The following topics show other examples of other options you can add to your CI/CD file. ## Deploy specific branches to a Pages site You may want to deploy to a Pages site only from specific branches. First, add a `workflow` section to force the pipeline to run only when changes are pushed to branches: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public ``` Then configure the pipeline to run the job for the `master` branch only. ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' pages: script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"' ``` ## Specify a stage to deploy There are three default stages for GitLab CI/CD: build, test, and deploy. If you want to test your script and check the built site before deploying to production, you can run the test exactly as it will run when you push to `master`. To specify a stage for your job to run in, add a `stage` line to your CI file: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' pages: stage: deploy script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"' ``` Now add another job to the CI file, telling it to test every push to every branch **except** the `master` branch: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' pages: stage: deploy script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"' test: stage: test script: - gem install bundler - bundle install - bundle exec jekyll build -d test artifacts: paths: - test rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH != "master"' ``` When the `test` job runs in the `test` stage, Jekyll builds the site in a directory called `test`. The job affects all branches except `master`. When you apply stages to different jobs, every job in the same stage builds in parallel. If your web application needs more than one test before being deployed, you can run all your tests at the same time. ## Remove duplicate commands To avoid duplicating the same scripts in every job, you can add them to a `before_script` section. In the example, `gem install bundler` and `bundle install` were running for both jobs, `pages` and `test`. Move these commands to a `before_script` section: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' before_script: - gem install bundler - bundle install pages: stage: deploy script: - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"' test: stage: test script: - bundle exec jekyll build -d test artifacts: paths: - test rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH != "master"' ``` ## Build faster with cached dependencies To build faster, you can cache the installation files for your project's dependencies by using the `cache` parameter. This example caches Jekyll dependencies in a `vendor` directory when you run `bundle install`: ```yaml image: ruby:2.7 workflow: rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH' cache: paths: - vendor/ before_script: - gem install bundler - bundle install --path vendor pages: stage: deploy script: - bundle exec jekyll build -d public artifacts: paths: - public rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"' test: stage: test script: - bundle exec jekyll build -d test artifacts: paths: - test rules: - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH != "master"' ``` In this case, you need to exclude the `/vendor` directory from the list of folders Jekyll builds. Otherwise, Jekyll will try to build the directory contents along with the site. In the root directory, create a file called `_config.yml` and add this content: ```yaml exclude: - vendor ``` Now GitLab CI/CD not only builds the website, but also pushes with **continuous tests** to feature-branches, **caches** dependencies installed with Bundler, and **continuously deploys** every push to the `master` branch. ## Related topics For more information, see the following blog posts. - [Use GitLab CI/CD `environments` to deploy your web app to staging and production](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/). - Learn [how to run jobs sequentially, in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/). - Learn [how to pull specific directories from different projects](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/) to deploy this website, . - Learn [how to use GitLab Pages to produce a code coverage report](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/).