Git & Hugo Blog Workflow: Aide-Mémoire

Git & Hugo Blog Workflow: Aide-Mémoire

This guide covers the essential Git commands for my routine Hugo development workflow, from making local changes to deploying them live.

The Golden Rule: Pull, Then Push

Because I work across two laptops, I must always follow this rule to keep them synchronized and avoid conflicts:

1. PULL changes from GitHub before you start working.
2. PUSH your changes to GitHub when you are finished.

1. Starting a Work Session

Before making any edits, always pull the latest version of your site from GitHub. This ensures you have any changes you might have pushed from your other machine.

1# Fetch and merge changes from the remote 'main' branch
2git pull origin main

2. The Local Development Cycle

This is the process you’ll follow every time you add or edit content.

Step A: Preview Your Site Locally

Run the Hugo server to see a live preview of your site. This allows you to check your changes before they go live.

1# Start the Hugo development server
2hugo server

Your site will be available at http://localhost:1313/. The server will automatically refresh the page as you save files.

Step B: Check the Status of Your Changes

Use git status to see a summary of your work. It will show you:

• Modified files: Files you have edited.
• Untracked files: New files you have created (like a new blog post).

1# See the current status of your repository
2git status

Step C: Stage Your Changes

“Staging” is how you tell Git which changes you want to include in your next save point (commit).

1# To stage ALL changes (modified and new files)
2git add .
3
4# To stage only a specific file
5git add path/to/your/file.md

Step D: Commit Your Changes

A “commit” is a snapshot of your staged changes. It saves them to your local repository’s history with a descriptive message.

1# Commit your staged changes with a clear message
2git commit -m "Docs: Update a blog post about Git"

Good commit messages are helpful. Common prefixes include Feat: (new feature), Fix: (a bug fix), Docs: (documentation), or Content: (adding or editing content).

3. Deploying Your Changes to the Live Site

To deploy your site, simply push your local commits to GitHub. This action will automatically trigger the GitHub Actions workflow to rebuild and publish your site.

1# Push your committed changes to the 'main' branch on GitHub
2git push origin main

After pushing, you can go to the Actions tab in your GitHub repository to watch the deployment process. Once it completes with a green checkmark, your changes are live.

A Complete Workflow Example: Adding a New Post

Here is the entire process from start to finish for adding a new blog post.

 1# 1. Start your session by getting the latest updates
 2git pull origin main
 3
 4# 2. Create a new blog post file using Hugo's command
 5hugo new content posts/my-awesome-new-post.md
 6
 7# 3. Start the local server to preview as you write
 8hugo server
 9
10# 4. Edit your new markdown file in your text editor...
11# (After editing and saving the file, you're ready to commit)
12
13# 5. Stage the new post for commit
14git add .
15
16# 6. Save your work with a commit message
17git commit -m "Content: Add new post on advanced Hugo techniques"
18
19# 7. Push to GitHub to deploy the new post
20git push origin main