Getting started

This page takes you from a new account to a connected site. It takes a few minutes.

Before you start

You need:

• A Jekyll site in a GitHub repository, public or private.
• Permission to install a GitHub App on that repository (or on the organisation that owns it).

1. Create your account

Sign up with your email address. A new account can have up to two sites on the Free plan, so you can set things up before a client site goes live.

2. Connect GitHub

Mabel reads and writes your repository through a GitHub App. You choose which repositories it can reach, and it only asks for Contents: read and write, which is what it needs to read files and commit changes.

1. Open your site’s settings and choose Connect GitHub.
2. On GitHub, pick the account or organisation and select the repositories to share.
3. GitHub sends you back to Mabel.

To change which repositories Mabel can see later, use Configure repos next to your GitHub connection. Disconnect all removes the connection.

3. Create a site

Choose New site and fill in:

• Name and domain, for example example.com.
• Plan. A new site starts on Free unless you have a paid subscription. You can change a site’s plan later on the Billing page.
• Static site generator. Choose Jekyll.
• GitHub repository. Pick the repository for this site from the list.

Once the repository is saved you can also choose a branch. Mabel reads from and commits to that branch. Leave it on the default branch unless your site is built from another one, for example a Pages site that publishes from gh-pages.

4. See what Mabel found

Mabel looks for posts, pages and data files in the places Jekyll puts them:

Open the Content section of your site to see them listed.

Next steps

• Add a form to your site.
• Edit a post or page.
• Invite a client.