Local Preview Guide

Local Preview Guide

This guide will help you preview your website locally before pushing to GitHub.

Prerequisites

  1. Ruby (version 2.5 or higher)
    • Check if you have Ruby: ruby --version
    • If not installed, install via Homebrew: brew install ruby
  2. Bundler (Ruby gem manager)
    • Install: gem install bundler

Setup Instructions

  1. Navigate to your project directory: 
    cd /Users/vchoudhary/Desktop/Personal_website/cvikash.github.io
  2. Install dependencies: 
    bundle install

    This will install all the gems specified in your Gemfile, including Jekyll and the Minimal Mistakes theme.

  3. Start the local server: 
    bundle exec jekyll serve
  4. View your site:
    • Open your browser and go to: http://localhost:4000
    • The site will automatically reload when you make changes to files

Useful Commands

  • Start server with drafts: bundle exec jekyll serve --drafts
    • This will show draft posts (files in _drafts/ folder)
  • Build without serving: bundle exec jekyll build
    • Creates the _site/ folder with the generated site
  • Incremental build (faster): bundle exec jekyll serve --incremental
    • Only rebuilds changed files (faster for large sites)

Troubleshooting

Port already in use

If port 4000 is busy, use a different port:

bundle exec jekyll serve --port 4001

Dependencies issues

If you get errors about missing gems:

bundle update

GitHub Pages metadata warnings

These warnings are normal when running locally and won’t affect your site. They’re just informational messages about GitHub API authentication.

Making Changes

  1. Edit any file (HTML, Markdown, CSS, etc.)
  2. Save the file
  3. Jekyll will automatically rebuild
  4. Refresh your browser to see changes

Before Pushing to GitHub

  1. Stop the local server (Ctrl+C)
  2. Test that the site builds without errors: 
    bundle exec jekyll build
  3. Commit and push your changes: 
    git add .
git commit -m "Your commit message"
git push

Your site will be live at: https://cvikash.github.io (or your GitHub Pages URL)