Error when deploying a minimal, static index.html file

[notfed]

I'm just trying to deploy a simple, static index.html site, but the deploy/workflow keeps failing.

Here's the link to the workflow:

https://github.com/notfed/many-worlds-explorer/actions

The error given is:

[deploy](https://github.com/notfed/many-worlds-explorer/actions/runs/17389836557/job/49362496554#step:3:7)
HttpError: Not Found - https://docs.github.com/rest/pages/pages#get-a-apiname-pages-site

and

[HttpError: /home/runner/work/_actions/actions/configure-pages/v5/node_modules/@octokit/request/dist-node/index.js#L124](https://github.com/notfed/many-worlds-explorer/commit/91c09af050eb34fcb0b15c0c6c9461a8ca125524#annotation_38476601740)
Get Pages site failed. Please verify that the repository has Pages enabled and configured to build using GitHub Actions, or consider exploring the `enablement` parameter for this action. Error: Not Found - https://docs.github.com/rest/pages/pages#get-a-apiname-pages-site

I'm at a loss. It says "404 Not Found" but doesn't tell me which URL it's trying to resolve. Someone help me debug this? What might I be doing wrong?

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[0xviny]

Hi! 👋

I looked into the error you're getting:

HttpError: Not Found - https://docs.github.com/rest/pages/pages#get-a-apiname-pages-site
Get Pages site failed. Please verify that the repository has Pages enabled and configured to build using GitHub Actions

This typically happens when GitHub Pages hasn't been enabled yet in the repository settings. Even if your workflow is correct, GitHub Actions can't deploy until Pages is explicitly turned on.

✅ Here's how to fix it:

1. Go to your repo on GitHub.
2. Click on Settings > Pages (in the left sidebar).
3. Under Build and deployment, set the Source to GitHub Actions.
4. Click Save.

Once you've done that, re-run your workflow — it should be able to detect the Pages configuration and deploy correctly.

---

🔧 (Optional) Extra tip:

If you're using actions/configure-pages@v5, you can also try adding:

- name: Configure GitHub Pages
  uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
  with:
    enablement: true

But note that this may not work in public repos without the right token permissions, so enabling it manually via the UI is the safest route.

Let me know if it still fails after that and feel free to share your workflow file here. Happy to help further!

If everything works, please mark the question as answered.

[notfed]

Exactly correct. Thanks!

[devstar222696]

HI, @notfed.

The configure-pages@v5 step calls GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pages to check that Pages is enabled.
Your repo returns 404, which means “no Pages site configured (or not accessible)”, so the workflow aborts before upload.

Two clean fixes (pick one)

1. Enable Pages for Actions (one-time UI): Repo Settings → Pages → Build and deployment → Source = “GitHub Actions.”
2. Enable via workflow: Add enablement: true to actions/configure-pages@v5 so the action creates/enables the Pages site on first run:

- name: Setup Pages
  uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
  with:
    enablement: true

(The action’s purpose includes enabling Pages.)

Quick checklist

• Permissions at top of workflow:

permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write

(Required by the official template.)

• If you use a custom domain, set it in Settings → Pages → Custom domain; when deploying via Actions, any CNAME file in the repo is ignored.

After doing one of the two “enable Pages” steps above, the same workflow should proceed to upload-pages-artifact and deploy-pages successfully.

I hope this will help you