# Publishing your site

The great thing about hosting project documentation in a `git` repository is
the ability to deploy it automatically when new changes are pushed. MkDocs
makes this ridiculously simple.

## GitHub Pages

If you're already hosting your code on GitHub, [GitHub Pages] is certainly
the most convenient way to publish your project documentation. It's free of
charge and pretty easy to set up.

  [GitHub Pages]: https://pages.github.com/

### with GitHub Actions

Using [GitHub Actions] you can automate the deployment of your project
documentation. At the root of your repository, create a new GitHub Actions
workflow, e.g. `.github/workflows/ci.yml`, and copy and paste the following
contents:

``` yaml
name: ci # (1)!
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master # (2)!
      - main
permissions:
  contents: write
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Configure Git Credentials
        run: |
          git config user.name github-actions[bot]
          git config user.email 41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: 3.x
      - run: echo "cache_id=$(date --utc '+%V')" >> $GITHUB_ENV # (3)!
      - uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          key: mkdocs-material-${{ env.cache_id }}
          path: ~/.cache # (4)!
          restore-keys: |
            mkdocs-material-
      - run: pip install mkdocs-material # (5)!
      - run: mkdocs gh-deploy --force
```

1.  You can change the name to your liking.

2.  At some point, GitHub renamed `master` to `main`. If your default branch
    is named `master`, you can safely remove `main`, vice versa.

3.  Store the `cache_id` environmental variable to access it later during cache
    `key` creation. The name is case-sensitive, so be sure to align it with `${{ env.cache_id }}`.

    - The `--utc` option makes sure that each workflow runner uses the same time zone.
    - The `%V` format assures a cache update once a week.
    - You can change the format to `%F` to have daily cache updates.

    You can read the [manual page] to learn more about the formatting options of the `date` command.

4.  Some Material for MkDocs plugins use [caching] to speed up repeated
    builds, and store the results in the `~/.cache` directory.

5.  This is the place to install further [MkDocs plugins] or Markdown
    extensions with `pip` to be used during the build:

    ``` sh
    pip install \
      mkdocs-material \
      mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin \
      ...
    ```

Now, when a new commit is pushed to either the `master` or `main` branches,
the static site is automatically built and deployed. Push your changes to see
the workflow in action.

If the GitHub Page doesn't show up after a few minutes, go to the settings of
your repository and ensure that the [publishing source branch] for your GitHub
Page is set to `gh-pages`.

Your documentation should shortly appear at `<username>.github.io/<repository>`.

To publish your site on a custom domain, please refer to the [MkDocs documentation].

  [GitHub Actions]: https://github.com/features/actions
  [MkDocs plugins]: https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/wiki/MkDocs-Plugins
  [personal access token]: https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token
  [built-in optimize plugin]: plugins/optimize.md
  [GitHub secrets]: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/configuring-and-managing-workflows/creating-and-storing-encrypted-secrets
  [publishing source branch]: https://docs.github.com/en/pages/getting-started-with-github-pages/configuring-a-publishing-source-for-your-github-pages-site
  [manual page]: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/date.1.html
  [caching]: plugins/requirements/caching.md
  [MkDocs documentation]: https://www.mkdocs.org/user-guide/deploying-your-docs/#custom-domains

### with MkDocs

If you prefer to deploy your project documentation manually, you can just invoke
the following command from the directory containing the `mkdocs.yml` file:

```
mkdocs gh-deploy --force
```

This will build your documentation and deploy it to a branch
`gh-pages` in your repository. See [this overview in the MkDocs
documentation] for more information. For a description of the
arguments, see [the documentation for the command].

  [this overview in the MkDocs documentation]: https://www.mkdocs.org/user-guide/deploying-your-docs/#project-pages
  [the documentation for the command]: https://www.mkdocs.org/user-guide/cli/#mkdocs-gh-deploy

## GitLab Pages

If you're hosting your code on GitLab, deploying to [GitLab Pages] can be done
by using the [GitLab CI] task runner. At the root of your repository, create a
task definition named `.gitlab-ci.yml` and copy and paste the following
contents:

``` yaml
pages:
  stage: deploy
  image: python:latest
  script:
    - pip install mkdocs-material
    - mkdocs build --site-dir public
  cache:
    key: ${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
    paths:
      - ~/.cache/ # (1)!
  pages:
    publish: public
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'
```

1.  Some Material for MkDocs plugins use [caching] to speed up repeated
    builds, and store the results in the `~/.cache` directory.

Now, when a new commit is pushed to the [default branch] (typically `master` or
`main`), the static site is automatically built and deployed. Commit and push
the file to your repository to see the workflow in action.

Your documentation is not published under `<username>.gitlab.io/<repository>`
by default since **GitLab 17.4** [^1]. However, if you prefer a cleaner URL
structure, such as `<username>.gitlab.io/<repository>`, you need to adjust
your configuration.

To switch from a unique domain to the traditional URL structure, follow
these steps:

1.  Locate Your Repository
2.  Go to **Settings › Pages** in the repository menu.
3.  In the **Unique domain settings** section, **uncheck** the box labeled
4.  **Use unique domain**.
5.  Click **Save changes** to apply the update.

Now you can reach your documentation under `<username>.gitlab.io/<repository>`.

[^1]: [Release notes for Gitlab 17.4](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2024/09/19/gitlab-17-4-released/)

## Other

Since we can't cover all possible platforms, we rely on community contributed
guides that explain how to deploy websites built with Material for MkDocs to
other providers:

<div class="mdx-columns" markdown>

- [:simple-cloudflarepages: Cloudflare Pages][Cloudflare Pages]
- [:material-airballoon-outline: Fly.io][Flyio]
- [:simple-netlify: Netlify][Netlify]
- [:simple-scaleway: Scaleway][Scaleway]

</div>

  [GitLab Pages]: https://gitlab.com/pages
  [GitLab CI]: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/
  [masked custom variables]: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/#mask-a-cicd-variable
  [default branch]: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/branches/default.html
  [Cloudflare Pages]: https://deborahwrites.com/guides/deploy-host-mkdocs/deploy-mkdocs-material-cloudflare/
  [Flyio]: https://documentation.breadnet.co.uk/cloud/fly/mkdocs-on-fly/
  [Netlify]: https://deborahwrites.com/guides/deploy-host-mkdocs/deploy-mkdocs-material-netlify/
  [Scaleway]: https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/tutorials/using-bucket-website-with-mkdocs/

