Skip to content

Deployment :shipit: :rocket_animated:

Deploy your MkDocs site with custom emojis using GitHub Actions.

Prerequisites

  • Working MkDocs config with external-emojis plugin
  • emoji-config.toml configured with your providers
  • Provider tokens ready to add as secrets

GitHub Actions Setup

Step 1: Add Secrets

  1. Go to your repository → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
  2. Click New repository secret
  3. Add your tokens:
Name Value
SLACK_TOKEN xoxp-...
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN MTIz...
DISCORD_GUILD_ID 123456789...

Step 2: Enable GitHub Pages

  1. Go to Settings → Pages
  2. Set source to GitHub Actions

Step 3: Create Workflow

Create .github/workflows/docs.yml:

name: Deploy Docs

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

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

concurrency:
  group: pages
  cancel-in-progress: false

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      SLACK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SLACK_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pip install mkdocs-material mkdocs-external-custom-emojis

      - name: Build docs
        run: mkdocs build

      - name: Upload artifact
        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
          path: site

  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

How It Works :catjam:

  1. Trigger - Runs on push to main or manual dispatch
  2. Build - Installs deps, syncs emojis, builds site
  3. Deploy - Uploads to GitHub Pages

Multiple Providers :mind_blown:

Add each token as a separate secret:

env:
  SLACK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SLACK_TOKEN }}
  DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN }}
  DISCORD_GUILD_ID: ${{ secrets.DISCORD_GUILD_ID }}

Troubleshooting :goose_warning:

Build Fails with Token Error :facepalm2:

  • Secret name must match token_env in emoji-config.toml
  • Add secrets at repository level, not environment level

Emojis Not Appearing :confused_dog:

  • Set fail_on_error: false in mkdocs.yml to allow builds even if sync fails
  • Check build logs for provider connection errors

Permission Denied

  • Verify the permissions block in workflow
  • Ensure Pages source is set to GitHub Actions

Next Steps