Getting Started with GitHub Pages for GitHub Beginners

GitHub Pages is a hosting service that lets you deploy a static website in a GitHub repository publicly, for free and securely. All you need is a GitHub account, a project to deploy, and a few minutes of time.

There are broadly two deployment methods.

• Deploy from a branch: Go to Settings → Pages in your repository, select Deploy from a branch, then specify main as the branch to deploy and save.
• Deploy with GitHub Actions: On the same Pages settings screen, select GitHub Actions, find the Next.js workflow among the recommended workflows, configure it, and commit.

With the Actions method, check the permissions and build/deploy settings in the workflow file, then commit it as is without changes. After that, wait in the Actions tab until the run finishes, and check the site deployed to GitHub Pages via the deployment completion link.

Keep in mind that the deployed site is publicly exposed even if the repository is private. Finally, you can also check recent deployment history in Settings → Pages.

The default address takes the form USERNAME.github.io/REPOSITORY-NAME, and if you want, you can change it to a custom domain. To do this, set up DNS records with your domain provider, verify the domain according to the GitHub documentation, and then enter it in Custom domain.

Once domain verification is complete, you can turn on Enforce HTTPS to apply a free SSL certificate. Then visitors will see the site with a secure lock icon in their browser.