Quickstart Publish your first site with Claude Code

Get oriented

The big picture

Your site lives in three places, and the agent works in only one of them. Once you see how they connect, the rest of the guide makes sense.

Time: 3 min

Three places your project lives

The three places your project lives Three boxes stacked from top to bottom. At the top is the working copy, where the agent edits files: a folder on your computer on the VS Code path, or a fresh copy in the cloud on the app path. An arrow labeled commit + push runs down from it to your repository on GitHub, the official copy with its full history. An arrow labeled clone / pull runs back up from the repository to the working copy. A third arrow, labeled Pages publishes, runs down from the repository to the live website at your-username.github.io/your-repo, which anyone can visit. WORKING COPY The agent edits here VS Code: a folder on your computer App: a fresh copy in the cloud commit + push clone / pull ON GITHUB Your repository The official copy, plus its full history Pages publishes LIVE WEBSITE Public on the web your-username.github.io/your-repo
The agent edits the working copy. Its changes reach GitHub, and then your live site, only when it pushes.
  1. The working copy. The copy the agent actually edits. On the VS Code path it's a folder on your computer. On the app path it's a fresh copy in the cloud, made for each session. Nothing here reaches GitHub until it's pushed.
  2. Your repository on GitHub. The official copy of your site's files, plus the history of every saved change. It lives at github.com/your-username/your-repo.
  3. The live website. GitHub Pages builds it from your repository and serves it at https://your-username.github.io/your-repo/. Changes can take up to 10 minutes to show after a push. You switch Pages on yourself, once, in your repo's settings on github.com. The agent edits files, not your repo's settings, so this one is yours. Turn on GitHub Pages shows how.

Four words move changes between them. You'll rarely type them yourself; you'll ask the agent.

WordWhat it does
CloneMakes a working copy of a repository.
PullBrings the working copy up to date with GitHub.
CommitSaves a snapshot of your changes, with a short note.
PushSends your commits up to GitHub.

How the agent works

  1. You ask

    Type or say what you want in plain words, and name the repo it should work in.

  2. It reads and plans

    It reads the files in the working copy and works out what to change. On a big job, ask to see the plan before it starts.

  3. It does the work

    It edits files and runs commands in that working copy. It may stop and ask permission before a command or a risky step. Read the request before you approve it.

  4. You check, then save

    Look at what changed. When you're happy, tell it to save the work to GitHub:

    Say this
    Commit and push to main.

    Once GitHub Pages is on, your live site updates too. Commit & push covers this step in detail.

What it can see, and what it remembers

  • Only what you give it. It works in the folder you opened in VS Code, or the repos you picked in the app. It doesn't see the rest of your computer unless you allow it.
  • Don't count on it remembering. It doesn't carry your conversations into a new session. On your computer, Claude Code keeps a few short notes of its own, but what reliably carries over is the repo: its files, its history and a rules file. Claude reads CLAUDE.md at the start of every session, and Codex reads AGENTS.md. Put standing rules there, such as who to commit as or "never invent facts". Commit as yourself shows one.

Saved only in this browser.