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Host on Render

Host your site on Render.

Use these instructions to enable continuous deployment from a GitHub repository. The same general steps apply if you are using Bitbucket or GitLab for version control.

Prerequisites

Please complete the following tasks before continuing:

  1. Create a Render account
  2. Log in to your Render account
  3. Create a GitHub account
  4. Log in to your GitHub account
  5. Create a GitHub repository for your project
  6. Create a local Git repository for your project with a remote reference to your GitHub repository
  7. Create a Hugo site within your local Git repository and test it with the hugo server command

Procedure

Step 1
Create a Render Blueprint in the root of your project.
render.yaml
services:
  - type: web
    name: hosting-render
    repo: https://github.com/jmooring/hosting-render
    runtime: static
    buildCommand: chmod a+x build.sh && ./build.sh
    staticPublishPath: public
    envVars:
      - key: DART_SASS_VERSION
        value: 1.91.0
      - key: GO_VERSION
        value: 1.25.0
      - key: HUGO_VERSION
        value: 0.149.0
      - key: NODE_VERSION
        value: 22.18.0
      - key: TZ
        value: Europe/Oslo
Step 2
Create a build.sh file in the root of your project.
build.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# @file
# Builds a Hugo site hosted on a Render.
#
# Render automatically installs Node.js dependencies.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------

main() {

  # Create directory for user-specific executable files
  echo "Creating directory for user-specific executable files..."
  mkdir -p "${HOME}/.local"

  # Install Dart Sass
  echo "Installing Dart Sass ${DART_SASS_VERSION}..."
  curl -sLJO "https://github.com/sass/dart-sass/releases/download/${DART_SASS_VERSION}/dart-sass-${DART_SASS_VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz"
  tar -C "${HOME}/.local" -xf "dart-sass-${DART_SASS_VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz"
  rm "dart-sass-${DART_SASS_VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz"
  export PATH="${HOME}/.local/dart-sass:${PATH}"

  # Install Go
  echo "Installing Go ${GO_VERSION}..."
  curl -sLJO "https://go.dev/dl/go${GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  tar -C "${HOME}/.local" -xf "go${GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  rm "go${GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  export PATH="${HOME}/.local/go/bin:${PATH}"

  # Install Hugo
  echo "Installing Hugo ${HUGO_VERSION}..."
  curl -sLJO "https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v${HUGO_VERSION}/hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  mkdir -p "${HOME}/.local/hugo"
  tar -C "${HOME}/.local/hugo" -xf "hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  rm "hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  export PATH="${HOME}/.local/hugo:${PATH}"

  # Verify installations
  echo "Verifying installations..."
  echo Dart Sass: "$(sass --version)"
  echo Go: "$(go version)"
  echo Hugo: "$(hugo version)"
  echo Node.js: "$(node --version)"

  # Configure Git
  echo "Configuring Git..."
  git config core.quotepath false
  if [ "$(git rev-parse --is-shallow-repository)" = "true" ]; then
    git fetch --unshallow
  fi

  # Build the site
  echo "Building the site..."
  hugo --gc --minify --baseURL "${RENDER_EXTERNAL_URL}"

}

set -euo pipefail
main "$@"
Step 3
Commit the changes to your local Git repository and push to your GitHub repository.
Step 4
On the Render dashboard, press the Add new button and select “Blueprint” from the drop-down menu.

screen capture

Step 5
Press the GitHub button to connect to your GitHub account.

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Step 6
Press the Authorize Render button to allow the Render application to access your GitHub account.

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Step 7
Select the GitHub account where you want to install the Render application.

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Step 8
Authorize the Render application to access all repositories or only select repositories, then press the Install button.

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Step 9
On the “Create a new Blueprint Instance in My Workspacee” page, press the Connect button to the right of the name of your GitHub repository.

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Step 10
Enter a unique name for your Blueprint, then press the Deploy Blueprint button at the bottom of the page.

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Step 11
Wait for the site to build and deploy, then click on the “Resources” link on the left side of the page.

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Step 12
Click on the link to the static site resource.

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Step 13
Click on the link to your published site.

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In the future, whenever you push a change from your local Git repository, Render will rebuild and deploy your site.