Deploy Jekyll to GitHub Pages in 2026: GitHub Actions, Custom Domain & Cloudflare

GitHub Pages remains the best free static site host for developers in 2026. The catch: the built-in Jekyll builder is limited to a small set of allowed gems. The solution is a GitHub Actions workflow that builds Jekyll with full plugin support and deploys the output to GitHub Pages. This guide walks through the complete setup, from a blank repo to a custom domain served over HTTPS via Cloudflare. Prerequisites A GitHub account with a repository for your Jekyll site A custom domain (optional but recommended) A Cloudflare account (free tier is sufficient) Ruby ≥ 3.1 and Jekyll ≥ 4.3 installed locally for testing Step 1: Configure Jekyll for Production Ensure _config.yml sets the correct URL: # _config.yml url: "https://yourdomain.com" baseurl: "" plugins: - jekyll-feed - jekyll-sitemap - jekyll-seo-tag Add a Gemfile: source "https://rubygems.org" gem "jekyll", "~> 4.3" group :jekyll_plugins do gem "jekyll-feed" gem "jekyll-sitemap" gem "jekyll-seo-tag" end Step 2: Create the GitHub Ac