web/_posts/2019-08-09-getting-started.md

---
title: Getting Started
description: >-
  Get started with Chirpy basics in this comprehensive overview.
  You will learn how to install, configure, and use your first Chirpy-based website, as well as deploy it to a web server.
author: cotes
date: 2019-08-09 20:55:00 +0800
categories: [Blogging, Tutorial]
tags: [getting started]
pin: true
media_subpath: '/posts/20180809'
---

## Prerequisites

Follow the instructions in the [Jekyll Docs](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/installation/) to complete the installation of the basic environment. [Git](https://git-scm.com/) also needs to be installed.

## Installation

### Creating a New Site

There are two ways to create a new repository for this theme:

- [**Using the Chirpy Starter**](#option-1-using-the-chirpy-starter) - Easy to upgrade, isolates irrelevant project files so you can focus on writing.
- [**GitHub Fork**](#option-2-github-fork) - Convenient for custom development, but difficult to upgrade. Unless you are familiar with Jekyll and are determined to tweak or contribute to this project, this approach is not recommended.

#### Option 1. Using the Chirpy Starter

Sign in to GitHub and browse to [**Chirpy Starter**][starter], click the button <kbd>Use this template</kbd> > <kbd>Create a new repository</kbd>, and name the new repository `USERNAME.github.io`, where `USERNAME` represents your GitHub username.

#### Option 2. GitHub Fork

Sign in to GitHub to [fork **Chirpy**](https://github.com/cotes2020/jekyll-theme-chirpy/fork), and then rename it to `USERNAME.github.io` (`USERNAME` means your username).

Next, clone your site to local machine. In order to build JavaScript files later, we need to install [Node.js][nodejs], and then run the tool:

```console
$ bash tools/init
```

> If you don't want to deploy your site on GitHub Pages, append option `--no-gh` at the end of the above command.
{: .prompt-info }

The above command will:

1. Check out the code to the [latest tag][latest-tag] (to ensure the stability of your site: as the code for the default branch is under development).
2. Remove non-essential sample files and take care of GitHub-related files.
3. Build JavaScript files and export to `assets/js/dist/`{: .filepath }, then make them tracked by Git.
4. Automatically create a new commit to save the changes above.

### Installing Dependencies

Before running local server for the first time, go to the root directory of your site and run:

```console
$ bundle
```

## Usage

### Configuration

Update the variables of `_config.yml`{: .filepath} as needed. Some of them are typical options:

- `url`
- `avatar`
- `timezone`
- `lang`

### Social Contact Options

Social contact options are displayed at the bottom of the sidebar. You can turn on/off the specified contacts in file `_data/contact.yml`{: .filepath }.

### Customizing Stylesheet

If you need to customize the stylesheet, copy the theme's `assets/css/jekyll-theme-chirpy.scss`{: .filepath} to the same path on your Jekyll site, and then add the custom style at the end of it.

Starting with version `6.2.0`, if you want to overwrite the SASS variables defined in `_sass/addon/variables.scss`{: .filepath}, copy the main sass file `_sass/main.scss`{: .filepath} into the `_sass`{: .filepath} directory in your site's source, then create a new file `_sass/variables-hook.scss`{: .filepath} and assign new value.

### Customing Static Assets

Static assets configuration was introduced in version `5.1.0`. The CDN of the static assets is defined by file `_data/origin/cors.yml`{: .filepath }, and you can replace some of them according to the network conditions in the region where your website is published.

Also, if you'd like to self-host the static assets, please refer to the [_chirpy-static-assets_](https://github.com/cotes2020/chirpy-static-assets#readme).

### Running Local Server

You may want to preview the site contents before publishing, so just run it by:

```console
$ bundle exec jekyll s
```

After a few seconds, the local service will be published at _<http://127.0.0.1:4000>_.

## Deployment

Before the deployment begins, check out the file `_config.yml`{: .filepath} and make sure the `url` is configured correctly. Furthermore, if you prefer the [**project site**](https://help.github.com/en/github/working-with-github-pages/about-github-pages#types-of-github-pages-sites) and don't use a custom domain, or you want to visit your website with a base URL on a web server other than **GitHub Pages**, remember to change the `baseurl` to your project name that starts with a slash, e.g, `/project-name`.

Now you can choose _ONE_ of the following methods to deploy your Jekyll site.

### Deploy by Using GitHub Actions

There are a few things to get ready for.

- If you're on the GitHub Free plan, keep your site repository public.
- If you have committed `Gemfile.lock`{: .filepath} to the repository, and your local machine is not running Linux, go to the root of your site and update the platform list of the lock-file:

  ```console
  $ bundle lock --add-platform x86_64-linux
  ```

Next, configure the _Pages_ service.

1. Browse to your repository on GitHub. Select the tab _Settings_, then click _Pages_ in the left navigation bar. Then, in the **Source** section (under _Build and deployment_), select [**GitHub Actions**][pages-workflow-src] from the dropdown menu.  
![Build source](pages-source-light.png){: .light .border .normal w='375' h='140' }
![Build source](pages-source-dark.png){: .dark .normal w='375' h='140' }

2. Push any commits to GitHub to trigger the _Actions_ workflow. In the _Actions_ tab of your repository, you should see the workflow _Build and Deploy_ running. Once the build is complete and successful, the site will be deployed automatically.

At this point, you can go to the URL indicated by GitHub to access your site.

### Manually Build and Deploy

On self-hosted servers, you cannot enjoy the convenience of **GitHub Actions**. Therefore, you should build the site on your local machine and then upload the site files to the server.

Go to the root of the source project, and build your site as follows:

```console
$ JEKYLL_ENV=production bundle exec jekyll b
```

Unless you specified the output path, the generated site files will be placed in folder `_site`{: .filepath} of the project's root directory. Now you should upload those files to the target server.

[nodejs]: https://nodejs.org/
[starter]: https://github.com/cotes2020/chirpy-starter
[pages-workflow-src]: https://docs.github.com/en/pages/getting-started-with-github-pages/configuring-a-publishing-source-for-your-github-pages-site#publishing-with-a-custom-github-actions-workflow
[latest-tag]: https://github.com/cotes2020/jekyll-theme-chirpy/tags