Deploy Your VitePress Site ​

The following guides are based on some shared assumptions:

• The VitePress site is inside the docs directory of your project.

• You are using the default build output directory (.vitepress/dist).

• VitePress is installed as a local dependency in your project, and you have set up the following scripts in your package.json:

  json

  {
    "scripts": {
      "docs:build": "vitepress build docs",
      "docs:preview": "vitepress preview docs"
    }
  }
  

Build and Test Locally ​

1. Run this command to build the docs:

   sh

   $ npm run docs:build
   

2. Once built, preview it locally by running:

   sh

   $ npm run docs:preview
   

   The preview command will boot up a local static web server that will serve the output directory .vitepress/dist at http://localhost:4173. You can use this to make sure everything looks good before pushing to production.

3. You can configure the port of the server by passing --port as an argument.

   json

   {
     "scripts": {
       "docs:preview": "vitepress preview docs --port 8080"
     }
   }
   

Now the docs:preview method will launch the server at http://localhost:8080.

Setting a Public Base Path ​

By default, we assume the site is going to be deployed at the root path of a domain (/). If your site is going to be served at a sub-path, e.g. https://mywebsite.com/blog/, then you need to set the base option to '/blog/' in the VitePress config.

Example: If you're using Github (or GitLab) Pages and deploying to user.github.io/repo/, then set your base to /repo/.

HTTP Cache Headers ​

If you have control over the HTTP headers on your production server, you can configure cache-control headers to achieve better performance on repeated visits.

The production build uses hashed file names for static assets (JavaScript, CSS and other imported assets not in public). If you inspect the production preview using your browser devtools' network tab, you will see files like app.4f283b18.js.

This 4f283b18 hash is generated from the content of this file. The same hashed URL is guaranteed to serve the same file content - if the contents change, the URLs change too. This means you can safely use the strongest cache headers for these files. All such files will be placed under assets/ in the output directory, so you can configure the following header for them:

Cache-Control: max-age=31536000,immutable

/assets/*
  cache-control: max-age=31536000
  cache-control: immutable

{
  "headers": [
    {
      "source": "/assets/(.*)",
      "headers": [
        {
          "key": "Cache-Control",
          "value": "max-age=31536000, immutable"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Platform Guides ​

Netlify / Vercel / Cloudflare Pages / AWS Amplify / Render ​

Set up a new project and change these settings using your dashboard:

• Build Command: npm run docs:build
• Output Directory: docs/.vitepress/dist
• Node Version: 16 (or above, by default it usually will be 14 or 16, but on Cloudflare Pages the default is still 12, so you may need to change that)

GitHub Pages ​

1. In your theme config file, docs/.vitepress/config.js, set the base property to the name of your GitHub repository. If you plan to deploy your site to https://foo.github.io/bar/, then you should set base to '/bar/'. It should always start and end with a slash.

2. Create a file named deploy.yml inside .github/workflows directory of your project with the following content:

   yaml

   name: Deploy
   on:
     workflow_dispatch: {}
     push:
       branches:
         - main
   jobs:
     deploy:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       permissions:
         pages: write
         id-token: write
       environment:
         name: github-pages
         url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
       steps:
         - uses: actions/checkout@v3
           with:
             fetch-depth: 0
         - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
           with:
             node-version: 16
             cache: npm
         - run: npm ci
         - name: Build
           run: npm run docs:build
         - uses: actions/configure-pages@v2
         - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v1
           with:
             path: docs/.vitepress/dist
         - name: Deploy
           id: deployment
           uses: actions/deploy-pages@v1
   

   TIP

   Please replace the corresponding branch name. For example, if the branch you want to build is master, then you should replace main with master in the above file.

3. In your repository's Settings under Pages menu item, select GitHub Actions in Build and deployment's Source.

4. Now commit your code and push it to the main branch.

5. Wait for actions to complete.

6. In your repository's Settings under Pages menu item, click Visit site, then you can see your site. Your docs will automatically deploy each time you push.

GitLab Pages ​

1. Set outDir in docs/.vitepress/config.js to ../public.

2. Still in your config file, docs/.vitepress/config.js, set the base property to the name of your GitLab repository. If you plan to deploy your site to https://foo.gitlab.io/bar/, then you should set base to '/bar/'. It should always start and end with a slash.

3. Create a file called .gitlab-ci.yml in the root of your project with the content below. This will build and deploy your site whenever you make changes to your content:

   yaml

   image: node:16
   pages:
     cache:
       paths:
         - node_modules/
     script:
       - npm install
       - npm run docs:build
     artifacts:
       paths:
         - public
     only:
       - main
   

4. Alternatively, if you want to use an alpine version of node, you have to install git manually. In that case, the code above modifies to this:

   yaml

   image: node:16-alpine
   pages:
     cache:
       paths:
         - node_modules/
     before_script:
       - apk add git
     script:
       - npm install
       - npm run docs:build
     artifacts:
       paths:
         - public
     only:
       - main
   

Azure Static Web Apps ​

1. Follow the official documentation.

2. Set these values in your configuration file (and remove the ones you don't require, like api_location):

   • app_location: /
   • output_location: docs/.vitepress/dist
   • app_build_command: npm run docs:build

Firebase ​

1. Create firebase.json and .firebaserc at the root of your project:

   firebase.json:

   json

   {
     "hosting": {
       "public": "docs/.vitepress/dist",
       "ignore": []
     }
   }
   

   .firebaserc:

   json

   {
     "projects": {
       "default": "<YOUR_FIREBASE_ID>"
     }
   }
   

2. After running npm run docs:build, run this command to deploy:

   sh

   firebase deploy
   

Surge ​

1. After running npm run docs:build, run this command to deploy:

   sh

   npx surge docs/.vitepress/dist
   

Heroku ​

1. Follow documentation and guide given in heroku-buildpack-static.

2. Create a file called static.json in the root of your project with the below content:

   json

   {
     "root": "docs/.vitepress/dist"
   }
   

Edgio ​

Refer Creating and Deploying a VitePress App To Edgio.