GitPage Documentation
Everything you need to know about creating and editing websites with GitPage
Setup Guide
Get started with GitPage by configuring your GitLab and OpenRouter accounts. This one-time setup takes about 10 minutes.
On this page:
- • Required Setup
- • Detailed Setup Instructions
- • Cloudinary Image Picker (Optional)
- • Hosting Options
- • Quick Start Guide
- • Troubleshooting
- • Add Custom Domain (Optional)
- • Additional Resources
Required Setup
To use GitPage, you need to configure two API keys. This is a one-time setup that takes about 10 minutes:
1. GitLab Account & Token
Provides version control and free hosting for your generated landing pages through GitLab Pages. No restrictions on commercial sites!
Required for deployment and hosting
2. OpenRouter API Key
Powers the intelligent conversion of your requirements into professionally designed web pages. One API key gives you access to all AI models!
- • Claude (Anthropic) - Best for creative content
- • GPT-4 (OpenAI) - Great all-rounder
- • Gemini (Google) - Fast and efficient
- • 100+ other models - All accessible through one key
3. Web3Forms Access Key (Optional)
Enables contact forms on your landing pages. Get a free key at web3forms.com
Optional - for functional contact forms
4. GitPage API Key
Enables programmatic access to create websites via API (optional, only if using API integration).
Optional - for API access only
5. Cloudinary Account (Optional)
Connect Cloudinary to browse and insert images directly from your media library while editing your website. No more copying and pasting image URLs!
Optional - greatly improves the image editing experience
Detailed Setup Instructions
Step 1: Git Provider Setup
GitLab Setup
Why GitLab? GitLab Pages has no restrictions on commercial sites, making it ideal for e-commerce, SaaS, or business websites. Plus, you get free CI/CD pipelines included!
Important: Validate Your GitLab Account First!
GitLab requires account validation (email, phone, and sometimes credit card) before CI/CD pipelines can run. Without validation, your website deployment will be blocked and you'll see a red X on your project.
Validate now: GitLab.com → Profile → Settings → Account → Validate your account. This prevents the most common issue users face!
- 1.Log in to GitLab.com (create a free account if needed)
- 2.Click your avatar → Edit Profile → Access Tokens (in left sidebar)
- 3.Click 'Add new token'
- 4.Set the token name (e.g., "GitPage Access")Select these scopes:
- ✓ api (Full API access)
- ✓ read_repository (Read repository contents)
- ✓ write_repository (Write to repository)
Set expiration: Choose "No expiration" or your preferred date - 5.Click 'Create personal access token' and copy it immediately (you won't see it again!)
- 6.In GitPage, go to 'Manage Keys', select "GitLab" as your provider, and paste your token
Step 2: OpenRouter API Key Setup
Why OpenRouter? OpenRouter provides a unified API to access multiple AI models (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, etc.) with a single API key. It's cost-effective and gives you flexibility to switch between models without managing multiple API keys.
✨ Best Part: When you use OpenRouter, you don't need to set up any other LLM API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, etc.). OpenRouter handles all model access through one unified interface—making it the simplest setup option. Once configured, you're all done!
- 1.Visit openrouter.ai and create a free account
- 2.Sign in and navigate to the API Keys section
- 3.Click 'Create Key' and give it a name (e.g., "GitPage Integration")
- 4.Copy the generated API key (starts with "sk-or-...")
- 5.Add credits to your OpenRouter account (as low as $5 to get started)
- 6.In GitPage, go to 'Manage Keys', select "OpenRouter" as your API method, and paste the key
Step 3: Cloudinary Image Picker (Optional)
Why Cloudinary? Without Cloudinary, you need to manually find and paste image URLs every time you want to add or change an image on your website. With Cloudinary connected, you get a visual media library picker built right into the editor — browse, search, and insert images with a single click.
✨ Better UX: Cloudinary also automatically optimizes your images (quality & format) for faster page loads and better Core Web Vitals scores, which helps with SEO.
- 1.Create a free account at cloudinary.com
- 2.After signing in, go to your Cloudinary Console (Dashboard)
- 3.Your Cloud Name is displayed at the top of the Dashboard (e.g., "my-company")
- 4.Navigate to Settings → API Keys in the left sidebar
- 5.Copy your API Key (the numeric key, not the API Secret)
- 6.In GitPage, go to 'Manage Keys' (/otp page), scroll to the Cloudinary (Image Picker) section
- 7.Enter your Cloud Name and API Key, then click "Save Cloudinary"
✓ Once connected, you'll see an image picker button in the website editor!
Upload images to your Cloudinary Media Library, then browse and insert them directly while editing your website — no more hunting for image URLs.
💡 Free Tier: Cloudinary's free plan includes 25 credits/month which covers ~25 GB of storage or ~25 GB of bandwidth — more than enough for most landing pages and small business sites.
Step 4: GitPage API Key (Optional)
Only needed if you want to use our API for programmatic website generation.
- 1.Sign in to your GitPage account
- 2.Go to your Dashboard
- 3.Scroll to the "API Access" section
- 4.Click "Generate API Key" and copy it securely
Hosting Options & Restrictions
✨ Recommended: GitLab Pages (No Restrictions)
GitLab Pages has no restrictions on commercial websites. You can freely build e-commerce sites, SaaS platforms, business websites, and any commercial project without worrying about terms of service violations.
💡 Alternative Hosting Options
Good news! You own the complete source code generated by GitPage. You can also deploy your GitLab repository to other commercial hosting platforms if needed:
These platforms offer direct GitLab integration, making deployment as simple as connecting your repository.
Quick Start Guide
Follow these steps for the simplest and most reliable setup experience.
- 1.Create a GitLab account and generate an access token (Step 1 above)
- 2.Create an OpenRouter account and get your API key (Step 2 above)
- 3.Sign in to your GitPage account
- 4.Go to 'Manage Keys' and enter your GitLab token and OpenRouter API key
- 5.Go to the main page and enter your website requirements in the text area
- 6.Click submit and wait 1-3 minutes for your website to be generated
- 7.View your new website in 'My Sites' and get your live URL
Troubleshooting
GitLab: 404 Error & Red X on Project (Most Common Issue)
Symptoms:
- •Your GitLab project shows a red X icon next to it
- •Your website URL returns a 404 Not Found error
- •The pipeline shows as "failed" or "blocked"
🔑 Root Cause: GitLab Account Not Validated
GitLab requires account validation before allowing CI/CD pipelines to run. Without validation, your GitLab Pages deployment pipeline is blocked, which means your website cannot be deployed—even though the files were created successfully.
GitLab requires verification of email, phone number, and in some cases a credit/debit card to prevent abuse of their free CI/CD minutes.
✅ How to Fix:
- 1.Go to your GitLab project (click the project link in 'My Sites')
- 2.Click on "Build" → "Pipelines" in the left sidebar
- 3.You will see a yellow/orange banner at the top saying your pipeline is blocked and prompting you to validate your account
- 4.Click the "Validate your account" or "Get validation credit" link in the banner
- 5.Complete the verification process (email, phone, and/or credit card)
- 6.Return to your project's Pipelines page
- 7.Click "Run pipeline" (blue button) or wait for the next commit
- 8.Your website should be live within 1-2 minutes!
💡 Pro Tip:
Validate your GitLab account before creating your first website to avoid this issue entirely. Go to GitLab.com → Settings → Account → Validation to complete verification proactively.
Other GitLab Issues
Pipeline passed but site still shows 404?
- →Wait 5-10 minutes for GitLab Pages to deploy (CDN propagation can take time)
- →Check your project visibility: Settings → General → Visibility → ensure "Pages" is set to "Everyone"
- →Verify the "public" folder was created by the pipeline (check the job logs)
- →Try clearing your browser cache or use incognito mode
Pipeline shows "pending" for a long time?
- →This usually means your account needs validation (see above)
- →Check if GitLab Shared Runners are enabled: Settings → CI/CD → Runners → Enable shared runners
- →You may have used all your free CI/CD minutes for the month (400 min/month for free accounts)
GitLab Pages URL format?
- →Your site URL will be:
https://USERNAME.gitlab.io/PROJECT-NAME - →If your project is named
USERNAME.gitlab.io, the URL will be justhttps://USERNAME.gitlab.io
How to check pipeline status?
- →In GitLab: Go to your project → Build → Pipelines
- →Green checkmark ✓ = Success (site should be live)
- →Red X ✗ = Failed (click to see error details)
- →Yellow/Orange = Pending or blocked (usually needs validation)
General Issues
Website not generating?
- →Verify GitLab/GitHub token is correctly entered in Manage Keys
- →Confirm OpenRouter API key is valid and has credits
- →Check that GitLab token has 'api', 'read_repository', and 'write_repository' scopes
- →Allow up to 3 minutes for site generation
API keys expired or invalid?
- →Regenerate your GitLab/GitHub token and update in Manage Keys
- →Check OpenRouter account balance and add more credits if needed
- →Ensure no extra spaces when copying/pasting API keys
Website deployed but links broken?
- →Check GitLab/GitHub Pages is enabled for your repository
- →Wait a few minutes for GitLab/GitHub Pages deployment to complete
- →See Navigation Link Fix Guide below for policy/terms pages
Still having issues?
Contact our support team using the chat widget. We typically respond within a few hours during business days.
Editing Your Website
GitPage now includes a powerful visual editor that allows you to customize your website without touching code. Here's how to use it:
1. Access the Editor
- →Go to 'My Sites' from your dashboard
- →Find the website you want to edit
- →Click the 'Edit' button next to your site
- →The edit modal will open with all customization options
2. What You Can Edit
Content
- • Page heading and hero statement
- • Features and benefits
- • Contact email and CTA link
- • FAQ section content
Design
- • Color palette (Vibrant, Calm, Dark, Warm)
- • Typography style (Modern, Classic, Bold, Minimal)
- • Layout structure (Spacious, Compact, Grid, Asymmetric)
- • Component style (Rounded, Sharp, Glass, Neumorphic)
- • Button styling and animations
- • Icon library selection
Settings
- • Page style (Informational, Creative, Minimal)
- • Color scheme (Standard or Dark Mode)
- • Language preference
- • Include/exclude FAQ section
3. Making Changes
- 1.Update any fields you want to change in the modal
- 2.Use the design system tabs to customize colors, fonts, and layout
- 3.Click 'Save Changes' or 'Update Website' button
- 4.Wait 1-3 minutes for the AI to regenerate your site
- 5.Refresh your site URL to see the changes live
💡 Pro Tips:
- →Changes are regenerated by AI, so updates may take a few minutes
- →Your original site remains live until the update completes
- →You can make unlimited edits to refine your website
- →Experiment with different design systems to find the perfect look
✨ No Code Required!
The edit modal provides a user-friendly interface for all customizations. You don't need to know HTML, CSS, or any programming to create a beautiful, professional website.
Step 5: Add Custom Domain (Optional)
Connect your own domain name to your GitLab Pages website for a professional branded web address.
GitLab Pages Custom Domain Setup
Before you start: Purchase a domain from a registrar like Namecheap, GoDaddy, Google Domains, or Cloudflare. You'll need access to your domain's DNS settings.
Part 1: Add Domain in GitLab
- 1.Go to your GitLab project (the one GitPage created)
- 2.Navigate to Settings → Pages (or Deploy → Pages)
- 3.Click "New Domain"
- 4.Enter your domain name (e.g.,
www.example.comorexample.com) - 5.Click "Create New Domain"
- 6.GitLab will show you the DNS records you need to add - keep this page open!
Part 2: Configure DNS Records
Add these DNS records in your domain registrar's control panel:
For Apex Domain (example.com):
For Subdomain (www.example.com):
For Domain Verification (TXT Record):
Part 3: Enable HTTPS
- 1.Wait for DNS to propagate (usually 1-2 hours, up to 48 hours)
- 2.Return to GitLab project → Settings → Pages
- 3.Find your domain in the list and click "Details"
- 4.If verification status shows ✓ Verified, you can enable automatic HTTPS certificate
- 5.GitLab will automatically provision a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
✓ All Done!
Your website should now be accessible at your custom domain with HTTPS enabled. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate worldwide.
💡 Pro Tip: GitLab Pages supports wildcard domains and multiple custom domains per project. You can add both apex and www versions of your domain.
Troubleshooting: If verification fails, double-check your TXT record is correct. If HTTPS doesn't work, ensure your DNS records point correctly to GitLab Pages.
Common Custom Domain Issues
Domain not resolving?
- →DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate
- →Verify DNS records are correct using a DNS checker tool
- →Clear your browser cache and try incognito mode
HTTPS not working?
- →Wait 24 hours after DNS propagation for SSL certificate provisioning
- →Ensure "Enforce HTTPS" is checked in GitHub Pages settings
- →For GitLab, verify your domain is showing as verified
Need help?
Check GitHub Pages Custom Domain Docs or GitLab Pages Custom Domain Docs
Additional Resources
Note for Existing Users (Legacy Services)
GitHub Users: If you set up your site using GitHub before January 2025, your existing setup will continue to work. You can still use the "GitHub (Legacy)" option in your account settings to manage your sites.
Direct API Key Users: If you were using direct API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Gemini), this method has been deprecated. Please migrate to OpenRouter for AI features. OpenRouter provides access to the same models with a simpler, unified setup.
New users should follow the GitLab + OpenRouter setup described above for the best experience.