Deploy from GitHub

Step-by-step guide to deploying your static site from a GitHub repository.

Prerequisites

  • A GitHub account with a repository containing your static site
  • A statichost.uk account (sign up free)

Step 1: Create a Site

  1. Log in to your statichost.uk dashboard
  2. Click New Site
  3. Enter your site name and GitHub repository URL
  4. Select your branch (usually main)
  5. Choose your framework:
    • Hugo — if your repo contains a Hugo site
    • Jekyll — if your repo contains a Jekyll site
    • Static — if your repo contains pre-built HTML files
  6. Set the publish directory (e.g., public for Hugo, _site for Jekyll, . for static)

Step 2: Add Deploy Key (Private Repos)

If your repository is private:

  1. In your site settings, copy the SSH deploy key
  2. Go to your GitHub repository → Settings → Deploy keys
  3. Click Add deploy key
  4. Paste the key and give it a title (e.g., “statichost.uk”)
  5. Leave “Allow write access” unchecked — we only need read access

Step 3: Set Up Webhooks

To enable automatic deployments when you push:

  1. In your site settings, copy the Webhook URL and Webhook secret
  2. Go to your GitHub repository → Settings → Webhooks
  3. Click Add webhook
  4. Set the Payload URL to your webhook URL
  5. Set Content type to application/json
  6. Paste your webhook secret
  7. Select “Just the push event”
  8. Click Add webhook

Step 4: Deploy

Push a commit to your configured branch, or click Deploy in your dashboard. Your site will be built and live within seconds at your free subdomain.

Adding a Custom Domain

  1. Go to your site → Domains
  2. Click Add Domain and enter your domain name
  3. Add the DNS records shown (CNAME or A record) with your domain registrar
  4. Click Verify — once DNS propagates, your TLS certificate is issued automatically
  5. Set as primary domain to redirect all traffic