This [GitHub action](https://github.com/features/actions) will handle the building and deploy process of your project to [GitHub Pages](https://pages.github.com/). It can be configured to upload your production-ready code into any branch you'd like, including `gh-pages` and `docs`. This action is built on [Node](https://nodejs.org/en/), which means that you can call any optional build scripts your project requires prior to deploying.
You can include the action in your workflow to trigger on any event that [GitHub actions supports](https://help.github.com/en/articles/events-that-trigger-workflows). If the remote branch that you wish to deploy to doesn't already exist the action will create it for you. Your workflow will also need to include the `actions/checkout` step before this workflow runs in order for the deployment to work.
BASE_BRANCH: master # The branch the action should deploy from.
BRANCH: gh-pages # The branch the action should deploy to.
FOLDER: build # The folder the action should deploy.
BUILD_SCRIPT: npm install && npm run-script build # The build script the action should run prior to deploying.
```
If you'd like to make it so the workflow only triggers on push events to specific branches then you can modify the `on` section. You'll still need to specify a `BASE_BRANCH` if you're deploying from a branch other than `master`.
The `env` portion of the workflow **must** be configured before the action will work. You can add these in the `env` section found in the examples above. Any `secrets` must be referenced using the bracket syntax and stored in the GitHub repositories `Settings/Secrets` menu. You can learn more about setting environment variables with GitHub actions [here](https://help.github.com/en/articles/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idstepsenv).
Below you'll find a description of what each option does.
| `GITHUB_TOKEN` | In order for GitHub to trigger the rebuild of your page you must provide the action with the repositories provided GitHub token. This can be referenced in the workflow `yml` file by using `${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}`. Only required if an access token is **not** provided. **Please note there is currently an issue affecting the use of this token, [you can learn more here](https://github.com/JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action/issues/5)**. | `secrets` | **Yes** |
| `ACCESS_TOKEN` | Depending on the repository permissions you may need to provide the action with a GitHub personal access token instead of the provided GitHub token in order to deploy. You can [learn more about how to generate one here](https://help.github.com/en/articles/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line). **This should be stored as a secret**. | `secrets` | **No** |
| `FOLDER` | The folder in your repository that you want to deploy. If your build script compiles into a directory named `build` you'd put it here. **Folder paths cannot have a leading `/` or `./`**. | `env` | **Yes** |
| `BUILD_SCRIPT` | If you require a build script to compile your code prior to pushing it you can add the script here. The Docker container which powers the action runs Node which means `npm` commands are valid. If you're using a static site generator such as Jekyll I'd suggest compiling the code prior to pushing it to your base branch. | `env` | **No** |
| `CNAME` | If you're using a [custom domain](https://help.github.com/en/articles/using-a-custom-domain-with-github-pages), you will need to add the domain name to the `CNAME` environment variable. If you don't do this GitHub will wipe out your domain configuration after each deploy. This value will look something like this: `jives.dev`. | `env` | **No** |
