---
title: Deployment
description: Deploy your Bengal site to production
draft: false
weight: 40
lang: en
tags:
- deployment
- hosting
- ci-cd
keywords:
- deployment
- hosting
- netlify
- vercel
- github-pages
category: guide
icon: rocket
card_color: orange
---
# Deploy Your Site

Bengal generates static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This means you can host your site anywhere that serves static files (e.g., GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, AWS S3, Nginx).

## The Production Build

When you are ready to ship, run the build command:

```bash
bengal build --environment production
```

This command:

- Loads configuration from `config/environments/production.yaml` (if it exists)
- Minifies HTML output (enabled by default)
- Generates the `public/` directory with your complete site

### Common Build Flags

| Flag | Description | Use Case |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| `--environment production` | Loads production config overrides. | **Always use for shipping.** |
| `--strict` | Fails the build on template errors. | **Highly Recommended for CI/CD.** |
| `--clean-output` | Cleans the `public/` directory before building. | Recommended to avoid stale files. |
| `--fast` | Maximum performance (quiet output, full parallelism). | Fast CI builds. |
| `--verbose` | Shows detailed build output (phase timing, stats). | Useful for debugging CI failures. |

Example full command for CI:
```bash
bengal build --environment production --strict --clean-output
```

## GitHub Pages

Deploy using GitHub Actions. Create `.github/workflows/deploy.yml`:

```yaml
name: Deploy to GitHub Pages

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.14'

      - name: Install Bengal
        run: pip install bengal

      - name: Build Site
        run: bengal build --environment production --strict --clean-output

      - name: Upload artifact
        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
          path: './public'

  deploy:
    environment:
      name: github-pages
      url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        id: deployment
        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
```

## Netlify

Create a `netlify.toml` in your repository root:

```toml
[build]
  publish = "public"
  command = "bengal build --environment production"

[build.environment]
  PYTHON_VERSION = "3.14"
```

## Vercel

Configure your project:

1. **Build Command**: `bengal build --environment production`
2. **Output Directory**: `public`
3. Ensure your `requirements.txt` includes `bengal`.

## Automatic Platform Detection

Bengal auto-detects your deployment platform and configures `baseurl` automatically:

| Platform | Detection | Baseurl Source |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| GitHub Pages | `GITHUB_ACTIONS=true` | Inferred from `GITHUB_REPOSITORY` |
| Netlify | `NETLIFY=true` | `URL` or `DEPLOY_PRIME_URL` |
| Vercel | `VERCEL=true` | `VERCEL_URL` |

You can override auto-detection with the `BENGAL_BASEURL` environment variable:

```bash
BENGAL_BASEURL="https://custom-domain.com" bengal build --environment production
```

## Pre-Deployment Checklist

Before you merge to main or deploy:

1. **Run `bengal config doctor`**: Checks for common configuration issues.
2. **Run `bengal build --strict` locally**: Ensures no template errors.
3. **Run `bengal check`**: Runs health checks on your site content.
4. **Check `config/environments/production.yaml`**: Ensure your `baseurl` is set to your production domain.

```yaml
# config/environments/production.yaml
site:
  baseurl: "https://example.com"
```

:::{seealso}
- [Configuration](../configuration/) — Environment-specific settings
- [Multi-Variant Builds](../configuration/variants) — OSS vs Enterprise, brand variants
- [Performance](../performance/) — Optimize build times
:::
