Docs Without GitHub

You don't need a GitHub account to publish docs with Jamdesk. Pick this option when you want to start writing right away and decide on Git later. You edit in the dashboard Editor or on your computer with the Jamdesk CLI, and each change you publish rebuilds your site.

Set up a project without GitHub

Your site goes live at your-project.jamdesk.app, the same as a GitHub project.

What works differently

Jamdesk owns the repository, so one feature needs your own GitHub first:

To use AI translation, move your docs to GitHub.

Edit on your computer

jamdesk pull downloads your docs into a folder that is a git repository with the full edit history. You edit the files there, by hand or with an AI coding agent, and jamdesk deploy publishes them.

You need CLI 1.1.227 or later and git. Sign in with jamdesk login first.

jamdesk pull
cd your-project
jamdesk dev

The folder is named after your project slug. If you have more than one project without GitHub, the CLI asks which one to pull. Add --project your-project to skip the question, or --dir to choose the folder.

Publish your changes

Run jamdesk deploy from anywhere inside the folder:

jamdesk deploy -m "Fix install steps"

Deploy commits your uncommitted changes, publishes every new commit, and starts a build. Without -m, the commit message is "Update docs". Commits you made yourself with git are published too. If nothing changed, deploy prints Nothing new to publish. and stops.

Get changes made in Jamdesk

Edits from the dashboard Editor, Fix with AI, or a teammate's deploy don't reach your folder on their own. When Jamdesk has changes you don't have, deploy stops before it publishes. Your commit stays in the folder. Merge the Jamdesk changes, then deploy again:

jamdesk pull
jamdesk deploy

Inside the folder, jamdesk pull merges the Jamdesk changes into your copy. It won't run while you have uncommitted changes. Commit them first, or run jamdesk deploy.

Fix conflicts

A conflict happens when the same lines changed in your folder and in Jamdesk. Pull then stops with Some files changed both here and in Jamdesk.

1. Run git status to see the files with conflicts.
2. Open each file, keep the text you want, and delete the <<<<<<<, =======, and >>>>>>> lines.
3. Commit the merge with git add -A and git commit --no-edit.
4. Run jamdesk deploy.

Deploy refuses files that still have conflict markers.

Files deploy won't publish

Deploy checks your changes before it commits anything. If it finds any of these files, it lists them and publishes nothing:

• Secret-looking files, such as service_account.json or names that start with secret. Pages (.md and .mdx files) are never treated as secrets files. If the files are safe to publish, run jamdesk deploy --allow-secret-files.
• Anything in the .github folder.
• Symbolic links, and folders that are their own git repository.
• Files over 25 MB.
• Text files with conflict markers left in them.

Deploy never commits files like .env, .env.*, private keys (*.pem, *.key) and credentials files, even with --allow-secret-files. Git ignores them in this folder.

Deploy checks commits you made yourself with git too. A refused file in an earlier commit blocks the deploy even if a later commit deletes it. The error message shows the git reset --soft command that takes those commits apart so you can fix the files.

One deploy can publish up to 100 MB of changes.

Back up to your own repository

You can add your own git remote, for example a private repository for backups, and push to it as usual. Jamdesk publishes only what you send with jamdesk deploy, so pushing to your remote doesn't change your site. Don't name your own git remote jamdesk. The CLI uses that name for its record of what Jamdesk has, and a remote with the same name breaks your next deploy until you run jamdesk pull.

Turn an old copy into a git repository

Copies made with CLI 1.1.226 aren't git repositories, and jamdesk deploy can't publish them. To keep edits you made in one, go into the copy's folder (the one with docs.json) and run:

jamdesk pull --force

Your files stay as they are and show up as uncommitted changes. Pages added in Jamdesk after you downloaded the copy are added to the folder. Pages you deleted in the old copy come back too, so delete them again before you commit if you don't want them.

If any files differ from Jamdesk, the CLI tells you how many. Some of those differences may be changes made in Jamdesk after you downloaded the copy, and publishing them as they are would undo those changes. So this folder needs one review before its first deploy:

1. Run git status and git diff to see each difference.
2. For a file where Jamdesk has the version you want, run git restore <file>.
3. Commit the changes you want to keep with git add and git commit.
4. Run jamdesk deploy.

Until you commit, jamdesk deploy stops with a message asking you to review your changes, and publishes nothing.

Download a zip instead

To get a copy without the CLI, open Settings, find the Git Repository card, and click Download source (.zip). Any project member can download.

Move your docs to GitHub

Move to GitHub copies your docs and their full edit history into a repository you own. Your site stays up during the move. It works on every plan. Only the project owner can move the docs.

Don't edit in the Editor or run jamdesk deploy while the move runs. Jamdesk keeps the old copy for 30 days, then deletes it.

After the move

Pushes to the repository publish your site, as described in Connect GitHub. Jamdesk builds only pushes from project members with a linked GitHub account:

1. Link your GitHub account in User Settings.
2. Invite teammates who push to the repository, and ask them to link theirs.

A folder made by jamdesk pull can't publish after the move. Run jamdesk deploy in it to see the git commands that connect it to your new repository.

If the move doesn't finish

The dialog says what went wrong. If it says the repository isn't empty, or that Jamdesk couldn't confirm the copy, delete the repository on GitHub, create a new empty one, and try again. Your site and your docs in Jamdesk stay as they were.

If your subscription ends

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