Static Site Generation (SSG) is totally on trend – and for good reason. Static websites are fast, secure and easy to host, whether with frameworks like Next.js, Hugo, Jekyll or Astro. But how do you ensure that the latest version of your website goes live automatically with every code change?
The answer is: GitHub Actions. In this post, we show you how to combine SSG and GitHub Actions to fully automate your deployment.
What is Static Site Generation?
SSG means that your website is converted into static HTML, CSS and JS files during the build process. These files can be hosted on simple web servers or CDNs (e.g. Netlify, GitHub Pages, Vercel).
Advantages of SSG:
- Extremely fast loading times
- No database required
- Small attack surface
- Good SEO through server-side rendered content
Why GitHub Actions?
GitHub Actions is a CI/CD tool that's directly integrated into GitHub. It allows you to automatically run workflows, e.g. tests, builds or deployments – as soon as you push code to your repository.
Advantages of this setup
- CI/CD out of the box: No more manual uploads or FTP transfers
- Secure: Automated deployments with GitHub Token
- Scalable: Supports larger sites and various SSG frameworks
- Flexible: Extensible at any time with linting, tests, preview deployments etc.
Other SSG frameworks?
The workflow can easily be adapted for other generators:
- Next.js: Use
next buildand deploy e.g. to Vercel or viaactions/upload-pages-artifact - Astro: Replace
hugowithnpm run buildand adjustpublish_dir - Jekyll: GitHub Pages supports Jekyll natively – no additional Action needed
Conclusion
With GitHub Actions, you take your SSG setup to the next level: continuous deployment, high speed and full control. Whether personal blog or company website – the effort is low, the benefit is great – for developers, content creators and admins alike.
