Deployment Guide

Deploy Your Project

Get your project live before the deadline - step by step.

⚡ Pro tip: Deploy a working "Hello World" in the first hour of hacking - do not wait until midnight.

🚨 Never commit API keys to GitHub

Bots scrape public repos within minutes and will drain your credits. Use .env files and inject keys via your host dashboard.

Recommended

Vercel

Best for React, Next.js, Vue, Vite, AI APIs

  1. 1Add all API keys to a .env.local file. Add .env* to .gitignore.
  2. 2Push your project to a GitHub repository.
  3. 3Go to vercel.com -> sign in with GitHub -> Add New > Project -> Import your repo.
  4. 4Before deploying, open the Environment Variables section and paste your key names and values from your .env file.
  5. 5Click Deploy. Copy your live URL, for example your-project.vercel.app.

.gitignore

.env*
!.env.example

GitHub Pages

Best for plain HTML/CSS/JS - no backend, no secrets

  1. 1Make sure your main file is named exactly index.html, not home.html or main.html.
  2. 2Push to GitHub, or use the repo web UI: Add file > Upload files > drag your folder in.
  3. 3Go to Settings -> Pages -> Deploy from branch -> select main / root -> Save.
  4. 4Wait 1-2 minutes. Your URL will be yourusername.github.io/your-repo-name.

minimum file

index.html

Troubleshooting

🛠️ Last-Minute Fixes

Case Sensitivity

−

Linux servers are case-sensitive. ./components/Navbar and ./Components/Navbar are different. Match filenames exactly.

Build Failing?

+

If you are out of time and Vercel throws a TypeScript or ESLint error, add this to your config to force the deploy through.

eslint: { ignoreDuringBuilds: true }

Broken Images / 404s

+

Use relative paths like ./images/logo.png, never absolute local paths like C:/Users/....

Still stuck?

Ask a mentor or reach out at zachary.hooser@tum.de.