Tech Notes

No Jekyll

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Disabling Jekyll in GitHub Pages mean that GitHub Pages will stop automatically converting Markdown to HTML.

What happens after disabling Jekyll?

If you add a .nojekyll file to your repository:

• GitHub Pages does not run Jekyll
• Markdown (.md) is no longer automatically rendered into HTML
• files are served “as-is” from the repository

So:

• index.html → works normally
• notes.md → will be downloaded as a text file or shown as raw text (depending on the browser), but not as a webpage

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Do you have to write in HTML then?

No, but you have 3 options:

1. ✔️ Markdown + your own build (most common solution)

You keep writing in .md, but:

• you use GitHub Actions

• with a generator like:

  • Hugo
  • MkDocs
  • Astro
  • Eleventy
  • Docusaurus

These:

• convert Markdown → HTML
• publish the ready site to gh-pages or /docs

👉 This gives full control and avoids Jekyll.

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2. ✔️ Markdown + Jekyll (default GitHub Pages)

If you do NOT add .nojekyll, GitHub:

• automatically renders Markdown → HTML
• uses Jekyll

This is the simplest option, but less flexible.

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3. ✔️ Static HTML (no conversion)

You can:

• write HTML manually
• or generate it locally

Pros:

• full control

Cons:

• less convenient than Markdown

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Key summary

Option	Markdown works	Auto conversion	Convenience
Jekyll (default)	✔️	✔️	high
.nojekyll + no build	❌	❌	low
.nojekyll + CI (Hugo/MkDocs etc.)	✔️	✔️ (in CI)	very high
pure HTML	❌	❌	medium

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Conclusion

If you want:

“full control over your notes”

then the best setup is: 👉 Markdown + GitHub Actions + a generator (e.g. MkDocs or Hugo) not writing HTML manually.

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If you want, I can suggest a specific setup (e.g. a minimal “Obsidian-like notes + GitHub Pages” workflow).