Deploy

DocPad websites can be deployed anywhere. Here are a few of the most common deployments.

Deploying DocPad

Preparing DocPad for Deployment

  1. Ensure your project's package.json file contains the following:

    package.json
     "engines" : {
     "node": "6",
     "npm": "3"
 },
 "dependencies": {
     "docpad": "6",
     "docpad-plugin-blah": "2"
 },
 "main": "node_modules/.bin/docpad-server",
 "scripts": {
     "start": "docpad-server",
     "test": "docpad generate --debug --silent --env static",
     "info": "docpad info --silent"
 }

    Correct dependencies with what you are actually using.

To Static Servers (Apache, Nginx, etc.)

For deployment to a Custom Static Server

  1. Perform a generation for a static production environment using docpad generate --env static

  2. Upload the generated directory to your server's public_html or htdocs directory

    1. If you use rsync, checkout our DocPad rsync deploy script

For deployment to GitHub Pages

  1. Install the GitHub Pages Plugin

     docpad install ghpages

  2. Deploy to GitHub Pages using the plugin

     docpad deploy-ghpages --env static

  3. If you'd like deployment automatically to GitHub Pages every time your repo updates, check out the Continuous Deployment Guide

For deployment to a Cloud Data Storage Provider (AWS S3, Google Storage, etc.)

  1. Checkout the DocPad Sunny Plugin

To a Node.js Hosting Provider

For deployment to Heroku

  1. Create a Procfile file inside your project that contains:

    Procfile
     web: npm start

  2. Set your heroku instance to run in production mode

     heroku config:add NODE_ENV=production

  3. Follow the rest of the Heroku guide here

  4. If you're also wanting to use custom domains for your website, follow the Heroku Guide here, or alternatively here is a generic guide:

    1. Login to your domain's DNS manager

    2. Create an CNAME Record for your domain pointing to your app url (e.g., balupton.herokuapp.com)

For deployment to OpenShift

  1. Create your OpenShift account and install their client tools

  2. Create a new OpenShift application for your project:

     rhc app create PROJECTNAME https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kyrylkov/openshift-iojs/master/metadata/manifest.yml

  3. Set environment variables using:

     rhc set-env -a PROJECTNAME NODE_ENV='production'

  4. If you'd like a custom domain, run:

     rhc alias-add PROJECTWEBSITE.COM -a PROJECTNAME

    Then create CNAME record with your DNS host pointing PROJECTWEBSITE.COM to PROJECTNAME-YOUR_OPENSHIFT_NAMESPACE.rhcloud.com

    If you don't know what your OpenShift namespace is, run:

     rhc app show -a PROJECTNAME

    And it will be listed within the SSH URL.

  5. Deploy your project's code to openshift:

     rhc app deploy "https://github.com/USER/REPO.git#master" -a PROJECTNAME

  6. You should be all good now! Check the logs of your app with:

     rhc tail -a PROJECTNAME

For deployment to Windows Azure

  1. Create a deployment script that triggers the static content generation. To create the script run the following command using the Windows Azure Cross-Platform Command-Line Interface:

     azure site deploymentscript --basic -t bash

  2. Modify the deploy.sh file by changing the # Deployment section to the following lines. You can see a complete example of the deploy.sh file here.

    deploy.sh
     echo Handling deployment.

 # 1. Install npm packages
 if [ -e "$DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE/package.json" ]; then
   cd "$DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE"
   npm install --production --silent
   exitWithMessageOnError "npm failed"
   cd - > /dev/null
 fi

 # 2. Build DocPad Site
 echo Building the DocPad site
 cd "$DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE"
 npm test
 exitWithMessageOnError "DocPad generation failed"

 # 3. KuduSync
 echo Kudu Sync from "$DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE/out" to "$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET"
 $KUDU_SYNC_COMMAND -q -f "$DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE/out" -t "$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET" -n "$NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH" -p "$PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH" -i ".git;.deployment;deploy.sh" 2> /dev/null
 exitWithMessageOnError "Kudu Sync failed"

  3. Last, create a web.config file in the static directory of your site with the URL rewrite rules shown below. These rules remove the HTML extensions from your URLs. You can see the main portions of this web.config file below. You can download the complete file here.

    web.config
     <rule name="RemoveHTMLExtensions" stopProcessing="true">
     <match url="^(.*)\.html$" />
     <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}" appendQueryString="true" />
 </rule>
 <rule name="RewriteHTMLExtensions" stopProcessing="true">
     <match url="(.*)" />
     <conditions>
         <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true"/>
         <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true"/>
     </conditions>
     <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:1}.html" />
 </rule>

  4. Follow the rest of the Azure guide here

For deployment to Modulus

  1. Follow getting started guide

For deployment to Docker

  1. There is a docker file that should help with deployments.

Continuous Deployment

To GitHub Pages

  1. Inside your project directory, do the following:

    1. Add the GitHub Pages Plugin as a Development Dependency

       npm install --save-dev docpad-plugin-ghpages

    2. Add a deploy script to your package.json "scripts" section:

      package.json
       {
     "scripts": {
         "deploy": "docpad deploy-ghpages --silent --env static"
     }
 }

    3. Remove the regenerateEvery property from your DocPad Configuration File if you have set it, as it will no longer be needed.

Using Travis CI

  1. Inside your GitHub account, do the following:

    1. Create a Personal Access Token called Travis CI Deployer that has repo and public_repo checked (uncheck everything else), make note of the token we'll use it later (this same token can be used for all the repos you have access to).

  2. Enable Travis CI for the repository, then inside the repository directory, do the following:

    1. Add this .travis.yml file to your project (make any necessary changes to the Custom Configuration section).

    2. Run the following commands (with the appropriate substitutions):

       travis encrypt "DEPLOY_USER=$YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME" --add env.global
 travis encrypt "DEPLOY_TOKEN=$THE_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN" --add env.global

    3. Commit and push the changes.

  3. If you want to regenerate your website when an external GitHub Repository changes (for instance updating the DocPad Website when the DocPad Documentation repository changes), you will need to Enable Travis CI for that repository, then inside that repository directory, do the following:

    1. Add this .travis.yml file to your project (make any necessary changes to the Custom Configuration section).

    2. Run the following commands (with the appropriate substitutions):

       travis encrypt "GITHUB_TRAVIS_TOKEN=$THE_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN" --add env.global

    3. Commit and push the changes.

  4. All done, your next push to master will be automatically deployed.

Using Circle CI

  1. Inside your project directory, do the following:

    1. Add this circle.yml file to your project (make any necessary changes to the Custom Configuration section).

    2. Commit and push the changes.

  2. Create a SSH Key that will be used by Circle CI to deploy to GitHub Pages, do this by:

    1. Create the SSH Key, make note of where it goes, don't bother with a password, use the email that was inside your circle.yml file:

       ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

    2. Make note of it's location. Two files will be generated. One with .pub at the end, which is the public key, and one without .pub which is the private key.

  3. Inside your Circle CI account, do the following:

    1. Add any environment variables you may need via Project Settings -> Tweaks -> Environment Variables

    2. Add the private key to CircleCI via Project Settings -> Permissions -> SSH Permissions. Set the hostname to github.com. Use the contents of the private key file for the private key text area.

  4. Inside your GitHub Project Settings, do the following:

    1. Add the public key to your GitHub Project by going to Settings -> Deploy Keys -> Add deploy key. Specify the title as CircleCI Deployment or whatever you like and set the key text area to the contents of the public key. Allow write access.

  5. If you want to regenerate your website when an external GitHub Repository changes (for instance updating the DocPad Website when the DocPad Documentation repository changes), you will need to:

    1. Create yourself a Circle CI token via the Circle CI Account API Page

    2. Go to the settings of the GitHub Repository that should cause the regeneration, and access Webhooks & Services -> Add webhook

      1. Specify the Payload URL to be:

         https://circleci.com/api/v1/project/YOUR_GITHUB_ORG/YOUR_GITHUB_REPO/tree/master?circle-token=THE_CIRCLECI_TOKEN

      2. Specify Content type to be application/json, select Just the push event, and check Active

      3. You can hit that Payload URL whenever you want to retest and rebuild your project.

  6. All done, your next push to master will be automatically deployed.

    1. You can now delete the local SSH key files that were made, as they serve no further purpose.

To GitLab Pages

Project repository must be at GitLab. If it is already somewhere else, GitLab allows to setup automatic mirroring.

Just add single file .gitlab-ci.yml to project root:

.gitlab-ci.yml
image: node

cache:
  paths:
  - node_modules/

pages:
  before_script:
  - npm install --production
  script:
  - npm test
  - mv out public
  artifacts:
    paths:
    - public
  only:
  - master

Commit, push, wait a minute and enjoy! :-)

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