--- outline: deep --- # Deploy Your VitePress Site The following guides are based on some shared assumptions: - The VitePress site is inside the `docs` directory of your project. - You are using the default build output directory (`.vitepress/dist`). - VitePress is installed as a local dependency in your project, and you have set up the following scripts in your `package.json`: ```json { "scripts": { "docs:build": "vitepress build docs", "docs:preview": "vitepress preview docs" } } ``` ## Build and Test Locally 1. Run this command to build the docs: ```sh $ npm run docs:build ``` 2. Once built, preview it locally by running: ```sh $ npm run docs:preview ``` The `preview` command will boot up a local static web server that will serve the output directory `.vitepress/dist` at `http://localhost:4173`. You can use this to make sure everything looks good before pushing to production. 3. You can configure the port of the server by passing `--port` as an argument. ```json { "scripts": { "docs:preview": "vitepress preview docs --port 8080" } } ``` Now the `docs:preview` method will launch the server at `http://localhost:8080`. ## Setting a Public Base Path By default, we assume the site is going to be deployed at the root path of a domain (`/`). If your site is going to be served at a sub-path, e.g. `https://mywebsite.com/blog/`, then you need to set the [`base`](../reference/site-config#base) option to `'/blog/'` in the VitePress config. **Example:** If you're using Github (or GitLab) Pages and deploying to `user.github.io/repo/`, then set your `base` to `/repo/`. ## HTTP Cache Headers If you have control over the HTTP headers on your production server, you can configure `cache-control` headers to achieve better performance on repeated visits. The production build uses hashed file names for static assets (JavaScript, CSS and other imported assets not in `public`). If you inspect the production preview using your browser devtools' network tab, you will see files like `app.4f283b18.js`. This `4f283b18` hash is generated from the content of this file. The same hashed URL is guaranteed to serve the same file content - if the contents change, the URLs change too. This means you can safely use the strongest cache headers for these files. All such files will be placed under `assets/` in the output directory, so you can configure the following header for them: ``` Cache-Control: max-age=31536000,immutable ``` ::: details Example Netlify `_headers` file ``` /assets/* cache-control: max-age=31536000 cache-control: immutable ``` Note: the `_headers` file should be placed in the [public directory](./asset-handling#the-public-directory) - in our case, `docs/public/_headers` - so that it is copied verbatim to the output directory. [Netlify custom headers documentation](https://docs.netlify.com/routing/headers/) ::: ::: details Example Vercel config in `vercel.json` ```json { "headers": [ { "source": "/assets/(.*)", "headers": [ { "key": "Cache-Control", "value": "max-age=31536000, immutable" } ] } ] } ``` Note: the `vercel.json` file should be placed at the root of your **repository**. [Vercel documentation on headers config](https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/projects/project-configuration#headers) ::: ## Platform Guides ### Netlify / Vercel / Cloudflare Pages / AWS Amplify / Render Set up a new project and change these settings using your dashboard: - **Build Command:** `npm run docs:build` - **Output Directory:** `docs/.vitepress/dist` - **Node Version:** `18` (or above) ::: warning Don't enable options like _Auto Minify_ for HTML code. It will remove comments from output which have meaning to Vue. You may see hydration mismatch errors if they get removed. ::: ### GitHub Pages 1. Create a file named `deploy.yml` inside `.github/workflows` directory of your project with some content like this: ```yaml # Sample workflow for building and deploying a VitePress site to GitHub Pages # name: Deploy VitePress site to Pages on: # Runs on pushes targeting the `main` branch. Change this to `master` if you're # using the `master` branch as the default branch. push: branches: [main] # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab workflow_dispatch: # Sets permissions of the GITHUB_TOKEN to allow deployment to GitHub Pages permissions: contents: read pages: write id-token: write # Allow only one concurrent deployment, skipping runs queued between the run in-progress and latest queued. # However, do NOT cancel in-progress runs as we want to allow these production deployments to complete. concurrency: group: pages cancel-in-progress: false jobs: # Build job build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 0 # Not needed if lastUpdated is not enabled # - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v3 # Uncomment this block if you're using pnpm # with: # version: 9 # Not needed if you've set "packageManager" in package.json # - uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v1 # Uncomment this if you're using Bun - name: Setup Node uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: 20 cache: npm # or pnpm / yarn - name: Setup Pages uses: actions/configure-pages@v4 - name: Install dependencies run: npm ci # or pnpm install / yarn install / bun install - name: Build with VitePress run: npm run docs:build # or pnpm docs:build / yarn docs:build / bun run docs:build - name: Upload artifact uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3 with: path: docs/.vitepress/dist # Deployment job deploy: environment: name: github-pages url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }} needs: build runs-on: ubuntu-latest name: Deploy steps: - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages id: deployment uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4 ``` ::: warning Make sure the `base` option in your VitePress is properly configured. See [Setting a Public Base Path](#setting-a-public-base-path) for more details. ::: 2. In your repository's settings under "Pages" menu item, select "GitHub Actions" in "Build and deployment > Source". 3. Push your changes to the `main` branch and wait for the GitHub Actions workflow to complete. You should see your site deployed to `https://.github.io/[repository]/` or `https:///` depending on your settings. Your site will automatically be deployed on every push to the `main` branch. ### GitLab Pages 1. Set `outDir` in VitePress config to `../public`. Configure `base` option to `'//'` if you want to deploy to `https://.gitlab.io//`. You don't need `base` if you're deploying to custom domain, user or group pages, or have "Use unique domain" setting enabled in GitLab. 2. Create a file named `.gitlab-ci.yml` in the root of your project with the content below. This will build and deploy your site whenever you make changes to your content: ```yaml image: node:18 pages: cache: paths: - node_modules/ script: # - apk add git # Uncomment this if you're using small docker images like alpine and have lastUpdated enabled - npm install - npm run docs:build artifacts: paths: - public only: - main ``` ### Azure Static Web Apps 1. Follow the [official documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/build-configuration). 2. Set these values in your configuration file (and remove the ones you don't require, like `api_location`): - **`app_location`**: `/` - **`output_location`**: `docs/.vitepress/dist` - **`app_build_command`**: `npm run docs:build` ### Firebase 1. Create `firebase.json` and `.firebaserc` at the root of your project: `firebase.json`: ```json { "hosting": { "public": "docs/.vitepress/dist", "ignore": [] } } ``` `.firebaserc`: ```json { "projects": { "default": "" } } ``` 2. After running `npm run docs:build`, run this command to deploy: ```sh firebase deploy ``` ### Surge 1. After running `npm run docs:build`, run this command to deploy: ```sh npx surge docs/.vitepress/dist ``` ### Heroku 1. Follow documentation and guide given in [`heroku-buildpack-static`](https://elements.heroku.com/buildpacks/heroku/heroku-buildpack-static). 2. Create a file called `static.json` in the root of your project with the below content: ```json { "root": "docs/.vitepress/dist" } ``` ### Edgio Refer [Creating and Deploying a VitePress App To Edgio](https://docs.edg.io/guides/vitepress). ### Kinsta Static Site Hosting You can deploy your VitePress website on [Kinsta](https://kinsta.com/static-site-hosting/) by following these [instructions](https://kinsta.com/docs/vitepress-static-site-example/). ### Stormkit You can deploy your VitePress project to [Stormkit](https://www.stormkit.io) by following these [instructions](https://stormkit.io/blog/how-to-deploy-vitepress). ### Nginx Here is a example of an Nginx server block configuration. This setup includes gzip compression for common text-based assets, rules for serving your VitePress site's static files with proper caching headers as well as handling `cleanUrls: true`. ```nginx server { gzip on; gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript; listen 80; server_name _; index index.html; location / { # content location root /app; # exact matches -> reverse clean urls -> folders -> not found try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/ =404; # non existent pages error_page 404 /404.html; # a folder without index.html raises 403 in this setup error_page 403 /404.html; # adjust caching headers # files in the assets folder have hashes filenames location ~* ^/assets/ { expires 1y; add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable"; } } } ``` This configuration assumes that your built VitePress site is located in the `/app` directory on your server. Adjust the `root` directive accordingly if your site's files are located elsewhere. ::: warning Do not default to index.html The try_files resolution must not default to index.html like in other Vue applications. This would result in an invalid page state. ::: Further information can be found in the [official nginx documentation](https://nginx.org/en/docs/), in these issues [#2837](https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/discussions/2837), [#3235](https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/issues/3235) as well as in this [blog post](https://blog.mehdi.cc/articles/vitepress-cleanurls-on-nginx-environment#readings) by Mehdi Merah.