GitHub Action for Eleventy

Use this action to build your static website with Eleventy.

To use it, create a .github/workflows/eleventy_build.yml file which uses this repository as an action.

Here's an example which builds the site with this action, then deploys to GitHub Pages with peaceiris/actions-gh-pages:

name: Eleventy Build
on: [push]

jobs:
  build_deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Build
        uses: cjerrington/actions-eleventy@v2
      - name: Deploy
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          publish_dir: _site
          publish_branch: gh-pages
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

This action accepts a couple of optional inputs:

Input Name	Required?	Default	Description
args	No	""	Arguments to pass to the Eleventy invocation
install_dependencies	No	false	If set to true, npm install will be run before Eleventy is invoked

For example:

- name: Build
  uses: cjerrington/actions-eleventy@v2
  with:
    args: '--output=_dist'
    install_dependencies: true

Migrating from v1 to v2

v2 replaces the Docker container action with a composite action that runs natively on the GitHub runner. This means faster execution (no Docker image build/pull) and simpler maintenance.

What changed

Aspect	v1 (Docker)	v2 (Composite)
Runtime	Custom Docker container	Native on the runner
Dependencies	Eleventy pre-installed globally	Resolved via npx (cached by npm)
args input	Optional, no default	Optional, defaults to ''
install_dependencies	Must be true or unset	Must be 'true' (string) or 'false'

Steps to migrate

1. Update the action reference from @v1.x to @v2 (or @master).
2. If you use install_dependencies: true, change it to install_dependencies: 'true' (string, since composite action inputs are always strings).
3. Remove any workflow workarounds you may have added to handle the Docker container (e.g. custom npm install steps before the action — v2 handles this natively).
4. The DEPLOY_TOKEN secret is no longer needed — use the built-in GITHUB_TOKEN instead (or keep your own if you prefer).

Before (v1):

- uses: actions/checkout@master
- name: Build
  uses: cjerrington/actions-eleventy@v1.3
  with:
    install_dependencies: true

After (v2):

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Build
  uses: cjerrington/actions-eleventy@v2
  with:
    install_dependencies: 'true'