"Svelte is a tool for building web applications. Like other user interface frameworks, it allows you to build your app declaratively out of components that combine markup, styles, and behaviours."

"SvelteKit is a framework for rapidly developing robust, performant web applications using Svelte. If you're coming from React, SvelteKit is similar to Next. If you're coming from Vue, SvelteKit is similar to Nuxt."

This guide provides a first-hand experience on building a Svelte project using SvelteKit + Tailwind CSS and deploying it on GitHub Pages.

🛠️ Installation

1. Create your project.

 # terminal
 npm create svelte@latest project_name
 cd project_name

2. Install Tailwind CSS and sveltekit static adapter.

 # terminal
 npm i -D @sveltejs/adapter-static
 npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
 npx tailwindcss init -p

3. Configure svelte config.

// svelte.config.js
import adapter from '@sveltejs/adapter-static';
import { vitePreprocess } from '@sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte';

/** @type {import('@sveltejs/kit').Config} */
const config = {
  kit: {
    adapter: adapter(),
    paths: {
      base: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? '/sveltekit' : ''
    }
  },
  preprocess: vitePreprocess()
};

export default config;

Note

Now you can add relative base paths for your routing like this.

<script>import {base} from '$app/paths'</script>

<a href="{base}/about">About</a>

For the modules (e.g. $app/paths), check the official documentation.

4. Configure your template paths.

// tailwind.config.js
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
export default {
  content: ['./src/**/*.{html,js,svelte,ts}'],
  theme: {
    extend: {}
  },
  plugins: []
};

5. Add the Tailwind directives to your CSS. ./src/app.css

/* app.css */
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

6. Import the CSS file. ./src/routes/+layout.svelte

<!-- +layout.svelte -->
<script>
  import '../app.css';
</script>

<slot />

7. Start your build process.

# terminal
 npm run dev

8. Start coding.

<h1 class="text-3xl font-bold underline">Hello world!</h1>

<style lang="postcss">
  :global(html) {
    background-color: theme(colors.gray.100);
  }
</style>

🗂️ File Structure

Typical file structure.

my-project/
├─ src/
│  ├─ lib/
│  │  ├─ server/
│  │  │  └─ [your server-only lib files]
│  │  └─ [your lib files]
│  ├─ params/
│  │  └── [your param matchers]
│  ├─ routes/
│  │  ├─ +layout.svelte
│  │  ├─ +page.svelte
│  │  └─ [your routes]
│  ├─ app.html
│  ├─ app.css
│  ├─ error.html
│  ├─ hooks.client.js
│  ├─ hooks.server.js
│  └─ service-worker.js
├─ static/
│  └─ [your static assets]
├─ tests/
│  └─ [your tests]
├─ package.json
├─ svelte.config.js
├─ tsconfig.json
└─ vite.config.js

🛫 How to deploy to GitHub Pages

Deploying to github pages is totally up to you, be it through GitHub Actions, or via gh-pages package without jekyll, or manually.

Note

• Take note of the specific configurations for your project before deploying it, otherwise, it won't work properly on production. Refer to the documentations for Svelte or SvelteKit.
• Also take note that GitHub Pages have limitations, it's free, yes, but it has a limit.

❗ via package without the use of Jekyll SSG ❗

1. Install gh-pages package.

npm install gh-pages --save-dev

2. Add .nojekyll file to your static/ directory.

Important

It is important that the .nojekyll file is present in the gh-pages branch for the project deployment to work properly.

3. Add deploy to your scripts.

{
  "scripts": {
    "deploy": "npm run build && gh-pages -d build -t true"
  }
}

-t true flag addition is based on this discussion regarding the the dotfiles (.nojekyll) not being pushed in the repo for deployment.

4. Create and configure a new branch for gh-pages.

Important

Make sure that you have committed your changes before doing this. All untracked and staged files may be deleted.

I like to do this manually. If there is some automated way, feel free to let me know by any means.

git checkout --orphan gh-pages
git reset --hard
git commit --allow-empty -m 'commit_message'
git push origin gh-pages

5. Publish the production build.

npm run deploy

❗ via manually configuring github pages settings ❗

1. Create your project. Start coding your project, either use a framework like React, Vue, or not.

2. Publish production build to GitHub. Push your production build to your github repo. After that, check if your index.html file is uploaded, since it is one of the core files needed for your website to work.

3. Configure your GitHub Pages on repo Settings. Navigate to Settings > Pages > Build and deployment. Make sure the Source says 'Deploy from a branch', and then configure the Branch settings and change it to your branch with the files.

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🌎 kerbethecoder
📫 krby.cnts@gmail.com
📌 July 26, 2024