Starting a new site

2026-01-29: Updated for the new nix-based setup.

Setting up a Linux system with Nix

1. You will need a functional Linux-like system. MacOS should work fine, but I have not tried. If you are using Windows, I recommend WSL.
2. Install nix:
   • On relatively recent Linux versions, run sudo apt install nix-bin to get a recent enough version of nix.
   • Otherwise, follow the official installation instructions.
3. Verify that nix --version gives at least version 2.18.

Cloning the repository

1. Follow instructions on GitHub to create a new repository. Do not initialize it with any files such as a README.
2. Clone the repository.
3. From your repository, pull in this template:

    git remote add simple-pages git@github.com:pdg137/simple-pages.git
    git pull simple-pages master
   

Running the server

1. Run nix-shell. It should download a bunch of stuff and then give you a prompt after a few minutes.
2. Run ./server. The server will be available at http://localhost:4000/
3. WSL users: you will need to run a browser in WSL (e.g. chromium http://localhost:4000/) or else forward port 4000 to the Windows system.

Publishing your pages

1. Run git push to update your pages on GitHub.
2. In your project settings on GitHub, find the section for Pages, and set it to “master branch”.
3. Find that section again and follow the link to your new site.

Making changes

1. Edit files as desired.
2. Run the server to preview them. (Note that it auto-updates as you edit.)
3. Run git commit -a, check what appears, write a commit message, save, and exit.
4. Run git push.
5. After a minute, GitHub pages should be showing the updated pages.