Fork & Deploy to GitHub Pages

What you’ll do: stand up a Zer0-Mistakes site you own and publish it to GitHub Pages, choosing between the low-maintenance remote theme model and the full-control fork model.

Prerequisites

• A GitHub account and Git installed locally.
• Basic familiarity with editing YAML and Markdown.
• Optional but recommended: Docker, for the local preview loop.

Step 1 — Choose remote theme or fork

Pick remote theme if you mostly want to write content. Pick fork if you intend to change how the theme looks or behaves.

Step 2a — Remote theme setup

Create a new repository and add three files. Your _config.yml declares the theme and the one required plugin:

# _config.yml
remote_theme: "bamr87/zer0-mistakes"
plugins:
  - jekyll-include-cache

Add a Gemfile so GitHub Pages resolves dependencies:

# Gemfile
source "https://rubygems.org"
gem "github-pages", group: :jekyll_plugins
gem "jekyll-include-cache"

Add an index.md with front matter so you have a home page, then commit. The Bare-Minimum Starter covers this minimal file set in more detail.

Step 2b — Fork setup

On the theme repository, use Fork to copy it into your account, then clone your fork:

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/<your-repo>.git
cd <your-repo>

Run the installer to reset the config to your own identity and scaffold the content directories:

./install.sh

Step 3 — Preview locally

The recommended loop uses Docker so your environment matches CI:

docker-compose up

Open http://localhost:4000 to see your site. Without Docker, use bundle install then bundle exec jekyll serve. The docs render with a left navigation tree and an “On this page” table of contents:

Step 4 — Enable GitHub Pages

1. Push your repository to GitHub.
2. Open Settings → Pages.
3. Under Build and deployment → Source, choose Deploy from a branch.
4. Select your main branch and the / (root) folder, then Save.

GitHub builds and publishes the site automatically on every push. The Deploy to GitHub Pages reference covers custom domains and the GitHub Actions alternative.

Step 5 — Verify

• Your site loads at https://<your-username>.github.io/<your-repo>/.
• The navbar, footer, and home page render with your content.
• Editing a page and pushing triggers a new deploy within a minute or two.

Troubleshooting

• Build fails on Unknown tag 'include_cached' — add jekyll-include-cache to your plugins: (Step 2a).
• Styles or layouts look unset — for the remote-theme model, re-declare your collections, defaults, and permalink in your own _config.yml; they are not inherited from the theme.
• Pages 404 that you didn’t create — plugin-generated pages (author profiles, search, sitemap) are skipped by GitHub Pages safe mode; see the Deploy to GitHub Pages guide.

Next steps

• Customize colors and layout with the Theme Guide.
• Follow the step-by-step Quick Start series for machine and Jekyll setup details.