Add static build pipeline for GitHub Pages deployment

[Copilot]

Converts Express/EJS app to static HTML for GitHub Pages hosting. EJS templates are rendered at build time with default context values, and output is deployed to gh-pages branch on push to main.

Changes

• scripts/build-static.js - Build script that:

  • Renders EJS templates from views/ → docs/*.html
  • Copies public/ → docs/public/
  • Ignores partials/ and includes/ directories
  • Creates docs/index.html from shop/home.ejs
  • Writes .nojekyll to prevent Jekyll processing

• .github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml - CI workflow using peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3 to deploy docs/ to gh-pages branch

• package.json - Added build:static script and fs-extra/glob dev dependencies

• .gitignore - Excludes docs/ build output

Usage

npm ci
npm run build:static
# open docs/index.html to verify

Notes

Templates are rendered with empty/default context values. Pages requiring dynamic data (DB queries, session state) will fail to render and are logged as warnings—these need manual conversion or a data source.

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses (expand for details)

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

• https://api.github.com//advisories
  • Triggering command: /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node --enable-source-maps /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/copilot-developer-action-main/dist/index.js (http block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

• Configure Actions setup steps to set up my environment, which run before the firewall is enabled
• Add the appropriate URLs or hosts to the custom allowlist in this repository's Copilot coding agent settings (admins only)

Original prompt

Goal: Convert the existing Express/EJS site into a static build and automatically deploy it to GitHub Pages (gh-pages branch) on every push to main. The repository currently uses EJS templates in views/ and static assets in public/. GitHub Pages cannot run Node/Express, so we will render EJS into plain HTML and publish the output.

Required changes to implement:

1. Add a build script at scripts/build-static.js that:

• Renders EJS templates from views/ into HTML files under docs/ (replace .ejs with .html)
• Copies the public/ folder to docs/public to preserve static assets
• Ignores partials/ directories and files starting with '_' (partials)
• Ensures docs/index.html exists by using views/index.ejs if present
• Writes a .nojekyll file into docs/ to prevent GitHub Pages from ignoring files starting with underscore
• Exits non-zero on unexpected errors and logs progress

File content (scripts/build-static.js):

const path = require('path');
const fs = require('fs-extra');
const glob = require('glob');
const ejs = require('ejs');

const repoRoot = path.join(__dirname, '..');
const viewsDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'views');
const publicDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'public');
const outDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'docs');

try {
  // Cleanup and recreate output dir
  fs.removeSync(outDir);
  fs.ensureDirSync(outDir);

  // Copy static assets
  if (fs.existsSync(publicDir)) {
    fs.copySync(publicDir, path.join(outDir, 'public'));
    console.log('Copied public/ -> docs/public');
  }

  // Find all .ejs files (skip partials or files starting with _)
  const ejsFiles = glob.sync('**/*.ejs', {
    cwd: viewsDir,
    nodir: true,
    ignore: ['**/partials/**', '**/_*.ejs']
  });

  if (ejsFiles.length === 0) {
    console.warn('No EJS templates found in views/. Update the script if your templates are elsewhere.');
  }

  (async () => {
    for (const rel of ejsFiles) {
      const srcPath = path.join(viewsDir, rel);
      let outRel = rel.replace(/\.ejs$/, '.html');
      const outPath = path.join(outDir, outRel);
      fs.ensureDirSync(path.dirname(outPath));

      try {
        // Render with empty context. If templates need data, update this part.
        const html = await ejs.renderFile(srcPath, {}, { root: viewsDir, async: true });
        fs.writeFileSync(outPath, html, 'utf8');
        console.log(`Rendered ${rel} -> ${path.relative(repoRoot, outPath)}`);
      } catch (err) {
        console.error(`Failed rendering ${rel}:`, err);
      }
    }

    // Ensure top-level index.html exists
    const candidate = path.join(outDir, 'index.html');
    if (!fs.existsSync(candidate)) {
      const fallbackIndex = ejsFiles.find(f => /index\.ejs$/.test(f));
      if (fallbackIndex) {
        const src = path.join(viewsDir, fallbackIndex);
        const html = await ejs.renderFile(src, {}, { root: viewsDir, async: true });
        fs.writeFileSync(candidate, html, 'utf8');
        console.log(`Created docs/index.html from ${fallbackIndex}`);
      } else {
        console.warn('No index.html created. Add an index.ejs, or modify the script mapping.');
      }
    }

    // Create .nojekyll to allow files/folders starting with _
    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(outDir, '.nojekyll'), '', 'utf8');
    console.log('Wrote docs/.nojekyll');

    console.log('Static build complete.');
  })();
} catch (err) {
  console.error('Static build failed:', err);
  process.exit(1);
}

2. Update package.json to add an npm script:

• Add to "scripts":
  "build:static": "node scripts/build-static.js"

If package.json already has a scripts object, only add the new key.

3. Add a GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml that:

• Runs on push to main
• Uses Node 18
• Installs dependencies (npm ci)
• Runs npm run build:static
• Deploys the contents of docs/ to the gh-pages branch using peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3

Workflow content (.github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml):

name: Build and deploy static site to gh-pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

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

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '18'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Build static site
        run: npm run build:static

      - name: Deploy to gh-pages
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./docs

4. Optional: If you prefer GitHub Pages to read from main/docs (instead of gh-pages), the workflow can commit docs/ back to main. Current plan: publish to gh-pages branch and instruct Pages to use gh-pages branch in repo settings. The action will create/update gh-pages automatically.

5. Tests to verify locally after merge (instructions for you):

• npm ci
• npm run build:static
• open docs/i...

This pull request was created as a result of the following prompt from Copilot chat.

Goal: Convert the existing Express/EJS site into a static build and automatically deploy it to GitHub Pages (gh-pages branch) on every push to main. The repository currently uses EJS templates in views/ and static assets in public/. GitHub Pages cannot run Node/Express, so we will render EJS into plain HTML and publish the output.

Required changes to implement:

1. Add a build script at scripts/build-static.js that:

• Renders EJS templates from views/ into HTML files under docs/ (replace .ejs with .html)
• Copies the public/ folder to docs/public to preserve static assets
• Ignores partials/ directories and files starting with '_' (partials)
• Ensures docs/index.html exists by using views/index.ejs if present
• Writes a .nojekyll file into docs/ to prevent GitHub Pages from ignoring files starting with underscore
• Exits non-zero on unexpected errors and logs progress

File content (scripts/build-static.js):

const path = require('path');
const fs = require('fs-extra');
const glob = require('glob');
const ejs = require('ejs');

const repoRoot = path.join(__dirname, '..');
const viewsDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'views');
const publicDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'public');
const outDir = path.join(repoRoot, 'docs');

try {
  // Cleanup and recreate output dir
  fs.removeSync(outDir);
  fs.ensureDirSync(outDir);

  // Copy static assets
  if (fs.existsSync(publicDir)) {
    fs.copySync(publicDir, path.join(outDir, 'public'));
    console.log('Copied public/ -> docs/public');
  }

  // Find all .ejs files (skip partials or files starting with _)
  const ejsFiles = glob.sync('**/*.ejs', {
    cwd: viewsDir,
    nodir: true,
    ignore: ['**/partials/**', '**/_*.ejs']
  });

  if (ejsFiles.length === 0) {
    console.warn('No EJS templates found in views/. Update the script if your templates are elsewhere.');
  }

  (async () => {
    for (const rel of ejsFiles) {
      const srcPath = path.join(viewsDir, rel);
      let outRel = rel.replace(/\.ejs$/, '.html');
      const outPath = path.join(outDir, outRel);
      fs.ensureDirSync(path.dirname(outPath));

      try {
        // Render with empty context. If templates need data, update this part.
        const html = await ejs.renderFile(srcPath, {}, { root: viewsDir, async: true });
        fs.writeFileSync(outPath, html, 'utf8');
        console.log(`Rendered ${rel} -> ${path.relative(repoRoot, outPath)}`);
      } catch (err) {
        console.error(`Failed rendering ${rel}:`, err);
      }
    }

    // Ensure top-level index.html exists
    const candidate = path.join(outDir, 'index.html');
    if (!fs.existsSync(candidate)) {
      const fallbackIndex = ejsFiles.find(f => /index\.ejs$/.test(f));
      if (fallbackIndex) {
        const src = path.join(viewsDir, fallbackIndex);
        const html = await ejs.renderFile(src, {}, { root: viewsDir, async: true });
        fs.writeFileSync(candidate, html, 'utf8');
        console.log(`Created docs/index.html from ${fallbackIndex}`);
      } else {
        console.warn('No index.html created. Add an index.ejs, or modify the script mapping.');
      }
    }

    // Create .nojekyll to allow files/folders starting with _
    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(outDir, '.nojekyll'), '', 'utf8');
    console.log('Wrote docs/.nojekyll');

    console.log('Static build complete.');
  })();
} catch (err) {
  console.error('Static build failed:', err);
  process.exit(1);
}

2. Update package.json to add an npm script:

• Add to "scripts":
  "build:static": "node scripts/build-static.js"

If package.json already has a scripts object, only add the new key.

3. Add a GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml that:

• Runs on push to main
• Uses Node 18
• Installs dependencies (npm ci)
• Runs npm run build:static
• Deploys the contents of docs/ to the gh-pages branch using peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3

Workflow content (.github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml):

name: Build and deploy static site to gh-pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

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

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '18'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Build static site
        run: npm run build:static

      - name: Deploy to gh-pages
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./docs

4. Optional: If you prefer GitHub Pages to read from main/docs (instead of gh-pages), the workflow can commit docs/ back to main. Current plan: publish to gh-pages branch and instruct Pages to use gh-pages branch in repo settings. The action will create/update gh-pages automatically.

5. Tests to verify locally after merge (instructions for you):

• npm ci
• npm run build:static
• open docs/index.html locally to verify

Deliverables in the PR:

• scripts/build-static.js (new)
• .github/workflows/deploy-pages.yml (new)
• package.json modified to include "build:static" script

Constraints and notes:

• The script renders templates with an empty context. If your templates depend on dynamic data (DB calls, runtime variables), they will need a data source or manual conversion.
• If your app uses server-only routes to produce pages, full parity will require migrating that logic into static data files or a different host.
• The build intentionally ignores partials (files/folders that start with underscore or are in a partials/ folder). Adjust if your project uses a different convention.

Please create a branch off main and open a pull request with these changes so that the CI builds and publishes docs/ to the gh-pages branch automatically.

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