Docker Dev Environment

This project includes Docker configuration for local development with live preview and automatic reloading.

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed on your system

Getting Started

Start the development server:
```
docker-compose up --build
```
On the first run, Docker will build the image and install all Ruby gems into the jekyll_gems named volume (2–3 minutes). Subsequent runs will start instantly.

NB - if you are using colima and you don’t have it as a background service:
```
/opt/homebrew/opt/colima/bin/colima start -f
```
or
```
colima start
```
Access the site: Open your browser and navigate to:
```
http://localhost:4000
```
Live reload: The site automatically reloads in your browser whenever you save changes to files. No manual refresh needed.
Stop the development server: Press Ctrl+C in the terminal, or run:
```
docker-compose down
```

Troubleshooting

Port already in use: If port 4000 or 35729 is already in use, modify the port mappings in docker-compose.yml.
Gems not updating: The named volume jekyll_gems persists across runs. To reinstall gems, run:
```
docker-compose down -v
docker-compose up
```
Slow file detection: On macOS, Docker Desktop’s volume mounts may have latency. For faster reload detection, consider using native mounts or increasing polling timeout in Jekyll config.

Testing GitHub Pages Compatibility

The development environment includes jekyll-livereload for live reloading, which is not part of the official github-pages gem. To ensure your site builds correctly for GitHub Pages deployment:

Build without LiveReload:

docker-compose exec jekyll bundle exec jekyll build --strict_front_matter

Verify the _site folder is generated correctly without errors.
Before pushing to GitHub, you can disable LiveReload by removing the --livereload flag from the docker-compose.yml or Dockerfile command.