Quick-Start Guide

Minimal Mistakes has been developed to be 100% compatible with hosting a site on GitHub Pages. To get up and running with a new GitHub repository quickly, follow these steps or jump ahead to the full installation guide.

Fork the Theme

Fork the Minimal Mistakes theme, then rename the repo to USERNAME.github.io — replacing USERNAME with your GitHub username.

fork Minimal Mistakes

Note: Your Jekyll site should be viewable immediately at http://USERNAME.github.io. If it’s not, you can force a rebuild by Customizing Your Site (see below for more details).

If you’re hosting several Jekyll based sites under the same GitHub username you will have to use Project Pages instead of User Pages. Essentially you rename the repo to something other than USERNAME.github.io and create a gh-pages branch off of master. For more details on how to set things up check GitHub’s documentation.

creating a new branch on GitHub

ProTip: Be sure to delete the gh-pages branch if you forked Minimal Mistakes. This branch contains the documentation and demo site for the theme and you probably don’t want that showing up in your repo.

Customize Your Site

Open up _config.yml found in the root of the repo and edit anything under Site Settings. For a full explanation of every setting be sure to read the Configuration section, but for now let’s just change the site’s title.

editing _config.yml file
Edit text files without leaving GitHub.com

Committing a change to _config.yml (or any file in your repository) will force GitHub Pages to rebuild your site with Jekyll. It should then be viewable a few seconds later at https://USERNAME.github.io.


Congratulations! You’ve successfully forked the theme and are up an running with GitHub Pages. Now you’re ready to add content and customize the site further.

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