Deploy a Jekyll site
Jekyll is an open-source framework for creating websites, based around Markdown with Liquid templates. In this guide, you will create a new Jekyll application and deploy it using Cloudflare Pages. You use the jekyll CLI to create a new Jekyll site.
Installing Jekyll
Jekyll is written in Ruby, meaning that you will need a functioning Ruby installation, like rbenv, to install Jekyll.
To install Ruby on your computer, follow the rbenv installation instructions and select a recent version of Ruby by running the rbenv command in your terminal. The Ruby version you install will also be used to configure the Pages deployment for your application.
$ rbenv install <RUBY_VERSION> # For example, 3.1.3
With Ruby installed, you can install the jekyll Ruby gem:
$ gem install jekyll
Creating a new project
With Jekyll installed, you can create a new project running the jekyll new in your terminal:
$ jekyll new my-jekyll-site
Create a base index.html in your newly created folder to give your site content:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>Hello from Cloudflare Pages</title> </head> <body> <h1>Hello from Cloudflare Pages</h1> </body>
</html>
Optionally, you may use a theme with your new Jekyll site if you would like to start with great styling defaults. For example, the minimal-mistakes theme has a “Starting from jekyll new” section to help you add the theme to your new site.
Before you continue
All of the framework guides assume you already have a fundamental understanding of Git. If you are new to Git, refer to this summarized Git handbook on how to set up Git on your local machine.
If you clone with SSH, you must generate SSH keys on each computer you use to push or pull from GitHub.
Refer to the GitHub documentation and Git documentation for more information.
Create a GitHub repository
Create a new GitHub repository by visiting repo.new. After creating a new repository, go to your newly created project directory to prepare and push your local application to GitHub by running the following commands in your terminal:
$ git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-gh-username>/<repository-name>
$ git branch -M main
$ git push -u origin main
If you are migrating an existing Jekyll project to Pages, confirm that your Gemfile is committed as part of your codebase. Pages will look at your Gemfile and run bundle install to install the required dependencies for your project, including the jekyll gem.
Deploy with Cloudflare Pages
To deploy your site to Pages:
- Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard and select your account.
- In Account Home, select Workers & Pages > Create application > Pages > Connect to Git.
- Select the new GitHub repository that you created and, in the Set up builds and deployments section, provide the following information:
| Configuration option | Value |
|---|---|
| Production branch | main |
| Build command | jekyll build |
| Build directory | _site |
Add an environment variable that matches the Ruby version that you are using locally. Set this as RUBY_VERSION on both your preview and production deployments. Below, 3.1.3 is used as an example:
| Environment variable | Value |
|---|---|
RUBY_VERSION | 3.1.3 |
After configuring your site, you can begin your first deployment. You should see Cloudflare Pages installing jekyll, your project dependencies, and building your site before deploying it.
After deploying your site, you will receive a unique subdomain for your project on *.pages.dev.
Every time you commit new code to your Jekyll site, Cloudflare Pages will automatically rebuild your project and deploy it. You will also get access to preview deployments on new pull requests, so you can preview how changes look to your site before deploying them to production.
Learn more
By completing this guide, you have successfully deployed your Jekyll site to Cloudflare Pages. To get started with other frameworks, refer to the list of Framework guides.