Deploy Eleventy from GitHub

Automated deployment workflows for Eleventy static sites using GitHub Actions. Deploy to GitHub Pages, FTP servers, or SSH servers with integrated release management and deployment tracking.

Note: For Netlify or Cloudflare Pages, you don't need this repository! Both platforms integrate directly with GitHub and can automatically build and deploy your Eleventy site. See their documentation:

• Netlify GitHub Integration
• Cloudflare Pages GitHub Integration

🚀 Deployment Options

• GitHub Pages - Free hosting with automatic SSL
• SSH Server - Deploy to your own server via SSH
• FTP Server - Deploy to traditional web hosting
• Manual Releases - Create tagged GitHub releases for version tracking

📁 Project Structure

.github/
├── actions/                   # Reusable GitHub Actions
│   ├── build/                 # Build Eleventy site
│   ├── deploy-github-pages/   # Deploy to GitHub Pages
│   ├── deploy-ftp/           # Deploy via FTP
│   ├── deploy-ssh/           # Deploy via SSH
│   └── new-release/          # Create releases
└── workflows/
    ├── create-release.yml     # Manual release creation
    ├── test.yml              # Test builds on pull requests
    └── examples/              # Example deployment workflows
        ├── deploy-github-pages.yml
        ├── deploy-ftp.yml
        └── deploy-ssh.yml

⚡ Quick Start

1. Use this template or fork this repository

2. Add your Eleventy project files to the repository root

3. Choose a deployment method and copy the appropriate workflow file from .github/workflows/examples/ to .github/workflows/:

   • deploy-github-pages.yml for GitHub Pages
   • deploy-ssh.yml for SSH deployment
   • deploy-ftp.yml for FTP deployment

4. Configure secrets and variables (see Configuration below)

5. Push to main branch to trigger deployment

⚙️ Configuration

GitHub Pages

Setup:

• Enable GitHub Pages in Settings → Pages
• Set source to "GitHub Actions"

Optional Variables:

• BUILD_COMMAND - Build command (default: npm run build)
• PUBLISH_DIR - Build output directory (default: _site)

SSH Deployment

Required Secrets:

• SSH_SERVER - Server hostname (e.g., example.com)
• SSH_USERNAME - SSH username
• SSH_PRIVATE_KEY - SSH private key content

Required Variables:

• SITE_URL - Your website URL (e.g., https://example.com)
• SSH_SERVER_DIR - Deploy directory (e.g., /var/www/html)

Optional Variables:

• BUILD_COMMAND - Build command (default: npm run build)
• PUBLISH_DIR - Build output directory (default: _site)
• SSH_PORT - SSH port (default: 22)
• SSH_EXCLUDE - Files to exclude (comma separated)

FTP Deployment

Required Secrets:

• FTP_SERVER - FTP server hostname
• FTP_USERNAME - FTP username
• FTP_PASSWORD - FTP password

Required Variables:

• SITE_URL - Your website URL

Optional Variables:

• BUILD_COMMAND - Build command (default: npm run build)
• PUBLISH_DIR - Build output directory (default: _site)
• FTP_SERVER_DIR - Upload directory (default: /)

Manual Releases

Setup:

• No additional setup required
• Manually trigger via Actions → Create Release

Required Permissions:

• Actions → General → Workflow permissions set to "Read and write permissions"

Optional Variables:

• BUILD_COMMAND - Build command (default: npm run build)
• PUBLISH_DIR - Build output directory (default: _site)

🔧 Features

• Automated deployment on push to main branch
• Manual deployment via GitHub Actions tab
• Deployment tracking with status updates
• Environment management for production deployments
• Automatic releases with version tagging
• Build testing on pull requests

📝 SSH Key Setup

1. Generate SSH key pair:

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "github-actions"

2. Add public key to server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

3. Add private key content to SSH_PRIVATE_KEY secret

🎯 Workflow Triggers

• Push to main - Automatic deployment
• Pull requests - Build testing only
• Manual dispatch - Run workflows manually

All secrets and variables are configured in Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions.

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This repository demonstrates modern DevOps practices for static site deployment with GitHub Actions.