You can set up a personal website as a public exocortex with no code in this 15 minute guide, using entirely free services to host your site on the web.

All pages are converted from simple, non-code Markdown syntax, so you can focus purely on writing. The end result will look identical to this page.

Background

Github will be used as a cloud content management system - it’s convenient to upload updates to, accessible and editable from anywhere, and keeps full version history of changes as well as provides easy options for back-up.

Netlify will be used to deploy the files stored on Github as a web-server - it’s fast and automatically updates whenever an update is made on your Github repository. Github does offer its own static webhost, but Netlify is necessary due to certain plugin support limitations.

Netlify will also provide your site a custom subdomain, e.g. [site-name].netlify.app. You can also use your own purchased domain.

All services are entirely free besides the custom domain.

1. Deploy your own Exocore to the Web

Create Github Account

First, create an account on github.com if you do not already have one. Remember to make your email private in settings.

Continue below when you have an account ready.

Install the Exocore template to GitHub and Netlify

Open our One-click installation.

Steps:

  1. Select Connect to Github
  2. Login to Github and select Authorize Application
  3. Name your repository - this is your own reference
  4. Select Deploy site

Netlify will now take about 5 minutes for the initial build of the site. If you want, you can watch the status of the build by clicking Production: master@HEAD under Production Deploys.

Once it’s complete, the Production status will change to Published, and you will be able to click the [site-name].netlify.app link to see your site.

The site’s master files will also appear in your Github account, under the repository name you selected, e.g. github.com/account-name/repository-name. Changes here will go live on the site automatically.

Your site is now officially live, available for anyone to view at [site-name].netlify.app., but there are some settings we should adjust before moving forward.

Change your site name

Change the default generated site name to whatever you’d like by navigating to Site settings > Site details > Change site name. It will be available at [sitename].netlify.app

Optionally, you can find instructions for setting up a custom domain [[here|custom domain]].

2. Setting up Exocore as a VS Code Workspace on your Machine

The exocore exists as both a Visual Studio Code template package and a workflow between Github and Netlify. While any editor capable of markdown is possible, using our modified VS Code Workspace is recommended for a suite of [[exocore-minded automation tools|using your exocore]].

  1. Download Visual Studio Code
  2. Download the forked repo to your computer by navigating to your github account’s exocore repo, then selectiong Code > Download Zip
  3. Open your newly forked repository in VS Code with File > Open, and navigating to the downloaded folder
  4. Accept the prompts to trust the folder, and install the recommended extensions. Your Exocore is now ready to be edited locally on VS Code.

3. Saving Changes to the Cloud with Github

While you’re working in VS Code, your work will be automatically saved. However, to publish the data to Github so that it propagates onto the web, you’ll need to setup a git commit workflow.

If you’re already familiar with git, it’s the standard commit process that can be done on your terminal. If you’re new to git and Github, the easiest process is using GitHub Desktop.

4. Configuring your Exocore

  1. Navigate to /_config.yml to change the Title and URL of your exocore.
  2. Navigate to /_data/user.yml to change your username and profile picture.
  3. Navigate to /styles.scss to select between different themes.

You can also customize Visual Studio Code heavily to your preference, including easily changing color themes.

5. Using your Exocore

Continue on to [[Using your Exocore using-exocore ]] to familiarize yourself with the editor interface and begin writing new notes.