The Ultimate Jekyll Chirpy Guide: From Installation to Successful Deployment

chirpy jekyll themeis a popular choice for developers and writers who want a clean, modern,It’s built on Jekyll, a static site generator, which means it’s fast, secure, and easy to host on platforms like GitHub Pages or Netlify. One of the great things about Chirpy is its focus on simplicity and readability. The design is minimalist, with a strong emphasis on typography and whitespace, making it a pleasure to read and navigate.

Setting up a this professional blog using the Jekyll Chirpy theme is rewarding, but the initial environment setup can be tricky. This guide covers everything from installing Ruby to fixing the most common “missing avatar” and “broken tags” issues.

1. Setting Up the Environment

Before you can run Chirpy, you need to turn your computer into a Jekyll-building machine.

Step A: Install Ruby

Jekyll is built on Ruby.

• Windows: Download the Ruby+Devkit from RubyInstaller. Choose the “x64” version. During installation, make sure “Add Ruby executables to your PATH” is checked.
• macOS: Use Homebrew: brew install ruby.

Step B: Install Gems and Bundler

“Gems” are Ruby packages. Bundler is a tool that manages the specific versions of Gems your blog needs. Open your terminal/command prompt and run:

gem install bundler jekyll

Step C: Initialize Your Project on Github

• Sign in to GitHub and navigate to the starter.
• Click the Use this template button and then select Create a new repository.
• Name the new repository <user-name>.github.io, replacing user-name with your lowercase GitHub user-name.

Step D: Initialize Your Project on Local PC

• Clone it to your PC: git clone https://github.com/user-name/user-name.github.io.git.
• To run the site locally, use the following command:

bundle exec jekyll serve

• After a few seconds, the local server will be available at http://127.0.0.1:4000.

2. Deploy the blog on Github

Step A: Push Your Code to GitHub

Once your site runs locally without errors, it’s time to make it live.

• Navigate to your project folder in the terminal.
• Add and commit your changes:

git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push origin main

This uploads your blog to GitHub.

Step B: Configure GitHub Actions

• Go to your repository on GitHub.
• Now to to settings -> pages -> Build and deployment and select Github Action as source.
• GitHub will automatically detect the Jekyll workflow and start building your site.
• You can monitor progress under the Actions tab.
• Once the workflow completes successfully, your blog will be available at:

https://user-name.github.io

Step C: Common Deployment Fixes

• Missing Avatar: Ensure your avatar image is placed in ‘/assets/img/’ and referenced correctly in .
• Broken Tags/Categories: Double-check that tags and categories are properly formatted in your post front matter (no spaces, lowercase recommended).
• CSS/JS Not Loading: Verify that your baseurl in _config.yml is set correctly (usually empty for GitHub Pages).

🎉 Final Touch

You now have a professional blog powered by Jekyll Chirpy, running locally and deployed globally. With its minimalist design and strong typography, Chirpy helps you focus on writing while giving readers a clean, enjoyable experience. From here, you can:

• Customize _config.yml to add your social links, analytics, and branding.
• Explore Chirpy’s built-in features like search, dark mode, and TOC.
• Write and publish posts regularly to grow your audience.

🚀 With Chirpy, you’re not just building a blog—you’re creating a polished platform for your ideas, ready to share with the world.