Publish Single Directories to Another Branch

Quick Tip!

Let's say that you're just like me. You've been working on a web project: HTML, CSS, and maybe some JavaScript. You're done and you're ready to show the world your project, so you want to get it built, compiled, minified, and put it somewhere. But how? git subtree. I'll show you. One command.

Also, did you see the cover image? Subtree? HA!

Let's assume you've got a project laid out like this:

my-dope-project
|- README.md
|- src
|   |- index.html
|   |- css
|       |- styles.sass
|   |- js
|       |- main.js
|       |- helper.js
|- dist
|- webpack.config.js
|- package.json
|- .gitignore
|- node_modules
    |- OMG so much stuff

Or something. I don't know your life. So you build your site with an npm run build. Now your dist directory is full of your beautiful bundled new site. So how do you put it up somewhere?

1. Make sure the dist folder is actually checked into your repo.

Get it out of your .gitignore and add/commit/push it.

2. Use the Subtree, Luke (and/or Leia).

$ git subtree push --prefix dist origin gh-pages

Here, dist is the directory subtree you want to publish. origin is the remote repo you're pushing to. gh-pages is the name of the remote branch you want to push to.

Then go to your GitHub and into your repo settings.

Set the branch that you created to be the public branch. And that's it! Head to <your-username>.github.io/<repo-name> and do your happy dance!

I know that there are about a thousand ways you could skin this particular cat and they all have their pro's and con's. I just really wanted to share this particular approach because I thought it was neat. Happy coding!

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Originally published on assert_not magic?

Comments

[p-mcgowan]

Random that I saw this today - I just found out about this yesterday when I wanted to keep the API and front-end in the same repo (don't ask). It's a decent alternative to submodules, but just be advised it replays your subtree history over your original refs, so it may get messy.

[Meghan (she/her)]

Awesome command, had no idea about this before!

Side note: specifically to solve the problem of posting to GitHub Pages, if you rename dist to docs then the site will publish in the same way automagically. Not the most aesthetically pleasing name for your dist folder but you can always describe the discrepancy in your actual docs haha