Host on GitLab Pages
Assumptions
- Working familiarity with Git for version control
- Completion of the Hugo Quick Start
- A GitLab account
- A Hugo website on your local machine that you are ready to publish
BaseURL
The baseURL in your site configuration must reflect the full URL of your GitLab pages repository if you are using the default GitLab Pages URL (e.g., https://<YourUsername>.gitlab.io/<your-hugo-site>/) and not a custom domain.
Configure GitLab CI/CD
Define your CI/CD jobs by creating a .gitlab-ci.yml file in the root of your project.
variables:
DART_SASS_VERSION: 1.89.2
GIT_DEPTH: 0
GIT_STRATEGY: clone
GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
HUGO_VERSION: 0.148.0
NODE_VERSION: 22.x
TZ: America/Los_Angeles
image:
name: golang:1.24.2-bookworm
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
# Install brotli
- apt-get update
- apt-get install -y brotli
# Install Dart Sass
- curl -LJO https://github.com/sass/dart-sass/releases/download/${DART_SASS_VERSION}/dart-sass-${DART_SASS_VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz
- tar -xf dart-sass-${DART_SASS_VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz
- cp -r dart-sass/ /usr/local/bin
- rm -rf dart-sass*
- export PATH=/usr/local/bin/dart-sass:$PATH
# Install Hugo
- curl -LJO https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v${HUGO_VERSION}/hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.deb
- apt-get install -y ./hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.deb
- rm hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.deb
# Install Node.js
- curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_${NODE_VERSION} | bash -
- apt-get install -y nodejs
# Install Node.js dependencies
- "[[ -f package-lock.json || -f npm-shrinkwrap.json ]] && npm ci || true"
# Configure Git
- git config core.quotepath false
# Build
- hugo --gc --minify --baseURL ${CI_PAGES_URL}
# Compress
- find public -type f -regex '.*\.\(css\|html\|js\|txt\|xml\)$' -exec gzip -f -k {} \;
- find public -type f -regex '.*\.\(css\|html\|js\|txt\|xml\)$' -exec brotli -f -k {} \;
artifacts:
paths:
- public
rules:
- if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCHPush your Hugo website to GitLab
Next, create a new repository on GitLab. It is not necessary to make the repository public. In addition, you might want to add /public to your .gitignore file, as there is no need to push compiled assets to GitLab or keep your output website in version control.
# initialize new git repository
git init
# add /public directory to our .gitignore file
echo "/public" >> .gitignore
# commit and push code to master branch
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin https://gitlab.com/YourUsername/your-hugo-site.git
git push -u origin masterWait for your page to build
That’s it! You can now follow the CI agent building your page at https://gitlab.com/<YourUsername>/<your-hugo-site>/pipelines.
After the build has passed, your new website is available at https://<YourUsername>.gitlab.io/<your-hugo-site>/.
Next steps
GitLab supports using custom CNAME’s and TLS certificates. For more details on GitLab Pages, see the GitLab Pages setup documentation.