Why aren't my changes showing on my pages.gay site?

Updated

pages.gay serves your site through a cache, so changes you push may not appear for a few minutes. If your files are already pushed to the right repository and branch, wait a few minutes, then hard-refresh the page with Ctrl + Shift + R. If the changes still don't show, the problem is usually that the files landed in the wrong place rather than the cache.

First, rule out the cache

pages.gay explicitly notes that it uses a cache and that updates may not occur for a few minutes. A hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R) forces your browser to fetch a fresh copy instead of reusing what it stored.

Try this order:

  1. Wait a few minutes after pushing.
  2. Hard-refresh with Ctrl + Shift + R.
  3. If you still see the old version, open the site in a private/incognito window to bypass your normal browser cache.
  4. If the private window shows the new version, the cache was the cause.

Then check that your files are in the right place

If a hard refresh doesn't help, the push itself is the likely culprit. pages.gay builds the page from a specific repository and branch, so a file pushed to the wrong branch will never appear.

The location depends on which kind of page you're building:

Page type URL Where the files go
User page user.pages.gay A public repository named pages on git.gay, files on the main branch
Project page user.pages.gay/repo A branch named pages in that repository

Common mistakes to check:

  • User page: the repository must be named pages and must be public. Files on a branch other than main won't be served.
  • Project page: the branch must be named exactly pages. If you created it as an empty branch, confirm your files were actually committed and pushed to it, not just to main.
  • Push actually completed: a commit that only exists locally won't change anything. Confirm the push succeeded.

Verify the change reached the server

A quick way to separate "my push failed" from "the cache is stale" is to look at the file directly in the repository on git.gay. If the new content is there but the site shows the old content, it's the cache. If the repository still shows the old content, your push didn't land where you think it did.

Custom domain changes not showing

If you're troubleshooting a custom domain rather than page content, the setup is different. You need a .domains file in the repository, in the same branch as your page's content, containing the domain you want to use.

Then add DNS records:

  • Subdomain: a CNAME record pointing to [branch].[repo].[user].pages.gay.
  • Apex domain (where CNAME doesn't work): an A record pointing to 213.210.34.143, an AAAA record pointing to 2a0f:9400:6906:1977::143, and a TXT record with the content [branch].[repo].[user].pages.gay.

DNS changes have their own propagation delay, so a domain that isn't resolving yet may simply need time, separate from the pages.gay cache.

Quick checklist

  • Files pushed to the correct repo and branch (main in a public pages repo for a user page; a pages branch for a project page)?
  • Waited a few minutes?
  • Hard-refreshed with Ctrl + Shift + R?
  • Tried a private window to rule out browser cache?
  • For custom domains: .domains file present in the same branch, and DNS records added?