Deploying Your Markdown Knowledge Base with GitHub Pages

You've built a beautiful, organized knowledge base using Markdown — now it's time to share it with the world. In this guide, you'll learn how to deploy it quickly and for free using GitHub Pages.

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Step 1: Organize Your Markdown Files

Start with a simple structure:

knowledge-base/
├── index.html
├── styles.css
├── scripts.js
└── docs/
    ├── getting-started.md
    ├── usage.md
    └── faq.md

Make sure your index.html file is set up to display and link to your Markdown files.

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Step 2: Initialize a Git Repository

In the root of your project:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

Push it to a GitHub repository:

gh repo create my-knowledge-base --public --source=. --remote=origin
git push -u origin main

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Step 3: Enable GitHub Pages

1. Go to your GitHub repo.
2. Click Settings > Pages.
3. Under Source, select the main branch and / (root) folder.
4. Click Save.

Your knowledge base will be live at:

https://your-username.github.io/your-repo-name

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Step 4: Serve Markdown Files Correctly

If you want Markdown files to render as HTML in the browser, use a client-side Markdown parser like Marked.

Example in scripts.js:

fetch('docs/faq.md')
  .then(res => res.text())
  .then(md => {
    document.getElementById('content').innerHTML = marked(md);
  });

Your index.html might include:

<div id="content" class="prose mx-auto px-4"></div>

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✅ Pros and ❌ Cons of Using GitHub Pages

✅ Pros:

• 🚀 Free hosting
• 🔄 Auto-deploy with Git
• 🔒 HTTPS by default
• 🧩 Works great for static content

❌ Cons:

• 🛠 No backend features (form handling, auth)
• ⚠️ Markdown rendered via JavaScript (not ideal for SEO)
• 🌐 Limited to static sites

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Summary

GitHub Pages offers a fast and free way to host your Markdown-based knowledge base. With a bit of HTML and JavaScript, you can create a searchable, organized, and responsive system that’s easy to deploy and update.

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📘 Want to build a more advanced knowledge base?

Check out my 20-page guide, Creating a Flexible Markdown Knowledge System. You'll learn how to:

• Structure, tag, and search your content
• Build responsive layouts with Tailwind
• Deploy using GitHub Pages, Netlify, and more Just $10.

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If this article helped you, feel free to buy me a coffee ☕