--- layout: step title: Deployment position: 10 --- In this final step we'll get the site ready for production. ## Gemfile It's good practice to have a [Gemfile](/docs/ruby-101/#gemfile) for your site. This ensures the version of Jekyll and other gems remains consistent across different environments. If you completed step one in this tutorial, you have already created a Gemfile. If you skipped step one, create a `Gemfile` in the root. The file should be called 'Gemfile' and should *not* have any extension. You can create a Gemfile with Bundler and then add the `jekyll` gem: ```sh bundle init bundle add jekyll ``` Your `Gemfile` should look something like: ```ruby # frozen_string_literal: true source "https://rubygems.org" gem "jekyll" ``` Bundler installs the gems and creates a `Gemfile.lock` which locks the current gem versions for a future `bundle install`. If you ever want to update your gem versions you can run `bundle update`. When using a `Gemfile`, you'll run commands like `jekyll serve` with `bundle exec` prefixed. So the full command is: ```sh bundle exec jekyll serve ``` This restricts your Ruby environment to only use gems set in your `Gemfile`. Note: if publishing your site with GitHub Pages, you can match production version of Jekyll by using the `github-pages` gem instead of `jekyll` in your `Gemfile`. In this scenario you may also want to exclude `Gemfile.lock` from your repository because GitHub Pages ignores that file. ## Plugins Jekyll plugins allow you to create custom generated content specific to your site. There are many [plugins](/docs/plugins/) available or you can even write your own. There are three official plugins which are useful on almost any Jekyll site: * [jekyll-sitemap](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-sitemap) - Creates a sitemap file to help search engines index content * [jekyll-feed](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-feed) - Creates an RSS feed for your posts * [jekyll-seo-tag](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-seo-tag) - Adds meta tags to help with SEO To use these first you need to add them to your `Gemfile`. If you put them in a `jekyll_plugins` group they'll automatically be required into Jekyll: ```ruby source 'https://rubygems.org' gem "jekyll" group :jekyll_plugins do gem "jekyll-sitemap" gem "jekyll-feed" gem "jekyll-seo-tag" end ``` Then add these lines to your `_config.yml`: ```yaml plugins: - jekyll-feed - jekyll-sitemap - jekyll-seo-tag ``` Now install them by running a `bundle update`. `jekyll-sitemap` doesn't need any setup, it will create your sitemap on build. For `jekyll-feed` and `jekyll-seo-tag` you need to add tags to `_layouts/default.html`: {% raw %} ```liquid {{ page.title }} {% feed_meta %} {% seo %} {% include navigation.html %} {{ content }} ``` {% endraw %} Restart your Jekyll server and check these tags are added to the ``. ## Environments Sometimes you might want to output something in production but not in development. Analytics scripts are the most common example of this. To do this you can use [environments](/docs/configuration/environments/). You can set the environment by using the `JEKYLL_ENV` environment variable when running a command. For example: ```sh JEKYLL_ENV=production bundle exec jekyll build ``` By default `JEKYLL_ENV` is development. The `JEKYLL_ENV` is available to you in liquid using `jekyll.environment`. So to only output the analytics script on production you would do the following: {% raw %} ```liquid {% if jekyll.environment == "production" %} {% endif %} ``` {% endraw %} ## Deployment The final step is to get the site onto a production server. The most basic way to do this is to run a production build: ```sh JEKYLL_ENV=production bundle exec jekyll build ``` And then copy the contents of `_site` to your server.

Destination folders are cleaned on site builds

The contents of _site are automatically cleaned, by default, when the site is built. Files or folders that are not created by your site's build process will be removed.

Some files could be retained by specifying them within the keep_files configuration directive. Other files could be retained by keeping them in your assets directory.

A better way is to automate this process using a [CI](/docs/deployment/automated/) or [3rd party](/docs/deployment/third-party/). ## Wrap up That brings us to the end of this step-by-step tutorial and the beginning of your Jekyll journey! * Come say hi to the [community forums](https://talk.jekyllrb.com) * Help us make Jekyll better by [contributing](/docs/contributing/) * Keep building Jekyll sites!