We’ve covered how to create website in previous chapter.

This chapter describes how to deploy blog created with Hugo to Google App Engine.

Google App Engine

We’ll upload file to GAE as it’s cheap option for small sites.

NOTE: The free tier is available only for the Standard Environment.

Setup

1. Create new project and setup gcloud.

   Complete the “Before You Begin” section in the quickstart tutorial

2. Create main.go

   File main.go is referenced by GAE that has GO runtime.

   Below is the simple form of main.go

   package main
   
   import (
       "net/http"
   )
   
   func init() {
   	http.Handle("/", http.FileServer(http.Dir("public")))
   }
   

   package main and function init() {...} is required for GAE.

   Within the function, we have http object serving the files under directory public.

   Hugo will generate files under directory ‘public’. All blog contents will be served from this file.

3. Create app.yaml

   app.yaml controls the behaviour of your GAE:

   • what to be uploaded to the server
   • what url is valid and how it’s handled
   • instance management

   runtime: go
   api_version: go1
   env: standard
   
   # Resource non-hungry setting
   threadsafe: true
   automatic_scaling:
     max_instances: 1
     max_idle_instances: 1
     min_pending_latency: "3000ms"
   
   skip_files:
   - ^(?!public|main\.go).*$
   
   handlers:
   - url: /css
     static_dir: public/css
   
   - url: /js
     static_dir: public/js
   
   - url: /img
     static_dir: public/img
   
   - url: /fonts
     static_dir: public/fonts
   
   - url: /.*
     script: _go_app
   

4. Deploy the codes to Google App Engine

   Issue gcloud app deploy to upload the files to GAE.

   If you haven’t ran gcloud init yet, you should call this first.

5. Your website should be ready at this point! You can view your website by gcloud app browse

6. When you are ready to publicise your blog, map your domain to the GAE instance.

Learn how to save cost in the next chapter!