Setting Up Your Own Blog with Jekyll on Windows

A step-by-step guide to installing and using Jekyll (with the Chirpy theme) to build your personal website:

Tutorial for Windows

Quickstart

Themes

1. Install Ruby (with Devkit version)

• Download the Windows 64-bit Ruby installer with Devkit from the official page:
  Ruby Installer

• After installation, the command prompt will open automatically to install the necessary MSYS2 software. During installation, either press Enter to accept the default options or select the MSYS2 and MINGW development toolchain option. Close the command prompt when finished.

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2. Install Jekyll and Bundler

• Open the “Start Command Prompt with Ruby” terminal.

• Update the RubyGems system:

  gem update --system
  

• Install Jekyll and Bundler:

  gem install jekyll bundler
  

• Verify the installation:

  jekyll -v
  

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3. Choose a Jekyll Theme

• You can browse popular themes here to find one you like:
  Themes Page
• For this guide, we use the Chirpy theme from GitHub:
  jekyll-theme-chirpy Github

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4. Download and Set Up the Chirpy Project

• Run the following commands in your terminal:

  git clone https://github.com/cotes2020/jekyll-theme-chirpy.git
  cd jekyll-theme-chirpy
  

• Install the project dependencies:

  bundle install
  

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5. Start the Local Server for Preview

• From the project directory, run:

  bundle exec jekyll serve --watch
  

• The preview URL is usually:
  http://127.0.0.1:4000

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6. Further Configuration

• Check out the official Chirpy theme Wiki for in-depth customization and usage tips:
  jekyll-theme-chirpy/wiki
• You can also refer to the Chirpy Starter template for a quick start:
  chirpy-starter