Deployment Guide for Agentic Economics Initiative Website

This guide provides instructions for deploying the Agentic Economics website to various hosting platforms.

Quick Start Summary

✅ Project Status: Complete and Ready for Deployment
✅ Build Status: Successfully builds with Jekyll 4.3+
✅ Local Testing: Confirmed working on local development server
✅ Theme: Minima theme with custom styling
✅ Content: Full theoretical framework, research, and partnership content

Prerequisites

Git repository with all files committed
GitHub account (for GitHub Pages)
Ruby 2.7+ and Bundler (for local development)

Option 1: GitHub Pages (Recommended)

Step 1: Repository Setup

Push this repository to GitHub:

git remote add origin https://github.com/YourUsername/AgenticEconomicsWeb.git
git push -u origin main

Step 2: Enable GitHub Pages

Go to your repository on GitHub
Navigate to Settings → Pages
Under “Source”, select Deploy from a branch
Choose main branch and / (root) folder
Click Save

Step 3: Configure Domain (Optional)

Update _config.yml:

url: "https://yourusername.github.io"
baseurl: "/AgenticEconomicsWeb"

For custom domain, add a CNAME file with your domain

Step 4: Access Your Site

Default URL: https://yourusername.github.io/AgenticEconomicsWeb
Build time: 2-3 minutes after push
Auto-deploys on every push to main branch

Option 2: Netlify

Step 1: Connect Repository

Sign up at netlify.com
Click “New site from Git”
Connect your GitHub repository

Step 2: Configure Build Settings

Build command: bundle exec jekyll build
Publish directory: _site
Ruby version: Add RUBY_VERSION = 2.7.0 in environment variables

Step 3: Deploy

Automatic deployment on every push
Custom domain configuration available
SSL certificate automatically provided

Option 3: Vercel

Step 1: Import Project

Visit vercel.com
Import your GitHub repository

Step 2: Configure

Framework: Other
Build command: bundle exec jekyll build
Output directory: _site

Step 3: Deploy

Instant deployment with global CDN
Custom domains and SSL included

Option 4: Self-Hosted

Step 1: Build Locally

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll build

Step 2: Deploy _site Folder

Upload the _site folder contents to your web server root directory.

Step 3: Web Server Configuration

Apache: Ensure .htaccess support is enabled
Nginx: Configure location blocks for static files
Node.js: Use serve or similar static file server

Customization for Deployment

URL Configuration

Update _config.yml based on your hosting:

# For GitHub Pages
url: "https://yourusername.github.io"
baseurl: "/AgenticEconomicsWeb"

# For Custom Domain
url: "https://agentic-economics.org"
baseurl: ""

# For Subdirectory
url: "https://yoursite.com"
baseurl: "/economics"

Google Analytics (Optional)

Add to _config.yml:

google_analytics: G-XXXXXXXXXX

Contact Forms

For the collaboration page contact forms, consider:

Formspree for GitHub Pages
Netlify Forms for Netlify hosting
Custom backend for self-hosted solutions

Content Management

Adding Blog Posts

Create new files in _posts/ with format:

YYYY-MM-DD-title.md

Adding News Items

Create new files in _news/ with frontmatter:

---
layout: post
date: 2024-05-21 10:00:00-0400
inline: true
---

Updating Research

Edit _pages/02_research.md to add new publications, projects, or partnerships.

Modifying Framework

Edit _pages/01_framework.md to update theoretical content or add new sections.

Performance Optimization

Image Optimization

Compress images before adding to assets/img/
Use WebP format for better compression
Consider responsive image sizes

CSS/JS Minification

Jekyll automatically minifies CSS in production
Consider adding jekyll-minifier plugin for additional optimization

CDN Integration

Use a CDN for static assets if self-hosting
GitHub Pages and Netlify provide this automatically

SEO Configuration

Meta Tags

The site includes:

Open Graph tags for social sharing
Twitter Card support
Structured data for search engines

Sitemap

Automatically generated at /sitemap.xml
Submitted to search engines for indexing

RSS Feed

Available at /feed.xml
Includes blog posts and news items

Monitoring and Analytics

Jekyll Build Logs

Monitor build success/failure notifications
Check for deprecation warnings

Site Performance

Use Google PageSpeed Insights
Monitor Core Web Vitals
Check mobile responsiveness

Uptime Monitoring

Set up monitoring for production site
Configure alerts for downtime

Backup and Version Control

Content Backup

All content is version-controlled in Git
Regular commits ensure no data loss
Consider automated backups for additional safety

Database-Free Architecture

Static site means no database to backup
All content stored in markdown files
Easy to migrate between hosting providers

Troubleshooting

Common Build Issues

Ruby Version Conflicts

rbenv install 2.7.0
rbenv local 2.7.0
bundle install

Gem Dependencies

bundle update
bundle install

Jekyll Build Errors

Check _config.yml syntax
Verify frontmatter in all markdown files
Ensure all required files are present

Deployment Issues

GitHub Pages Build Failure

Check repository settings
Verify supported plugins
Review build logs in Actions tab

Netlify Build Timeout

Optimize build process
Check Ruby version configuration
Review build logs

Security Considerations

Static Site Security

No server-side vulnerabilities
Regular Jekyll/gem updates recommended
HTTPS enabled by default on modern hosts

Content Security

Review content before publishing
Use branch protection rules
Implement PR review process for contributions

Future Enhancements

Potential Additions

Search functionality with Algolia or Lunr.js
Multi-language support
Advanced analytics dashboard
Newsletter subscription integration
Comment system for blog posts

Scalability Considerations

Static sites scale naturally
Consider JAMstack architecture for dynamic features
Use headless CMS for non-technical content editors

Support

For deployment issues or questions:

Check Jekyll documentation: jekyllrb.com
Review hosting provider documentation
Create an issue in this repository for project-specific problems

Deployment Checklist:

The Agentic Economics Initiative website is designed for reliable, scalable deployment across modern hosting platforms.