Themes that deploy to GitHub Pages.

Built-in build or GitHub Actions?

GitHub Pages can build Jekyll sites for you, but only with an approved list of plugins and a fixed Jekyll version. Simple themes like Minimal Mistakes work with that built-in build directly. Feature-rich themes use more plugins and gems, so they build with a GitHub Actions workflow instead. It's still free, still automatic on every push, and it gives you full control over the Jekyll version.

Deploy a premium theme with GitHub Actions

1. Push the theme to a GitHub repository and commit its Gemfile and Gemfile.lock.
2. In the repository, open Settings → Pages and set Source to GitHub Actions.
3. Add the workflow below as .github/workflows/pages.yml and push. Your site goes live at username.github.io/repository a minute later.
4. Optional: add your own domain under Settings → Pages → Custom domain.

name: Deploy Jekyll site to Pages
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
        with:
          ruby-version: '3.3'
          bundler-cache: true
      - id: pages
        uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
      - run: bundle exec jekyll build --baseurl "${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_path }}"
        env:
          JEKYLL_ENV: production
      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: github-pages
    steps:
      - uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4