Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory

Deployment Guide - Getting Your Site Live

🚀 Quick Deployment (5-10 minutes)

This guide will walk you through publishing the Epstein Files Hub site on GitHub Pages for FREE.

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Step 1: Enable GitHub Pages (2 minutes)

1. Go to your repository: https://github.com/IAmSoThirsty/Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory
2. Click Settings (top right)
3. Scroll down to Pages in the left sidebar
4. Under Source, select:
   • Branch: copilot/create-self-organizing-workflow (or main after merge)
   • Folder: /web (this is important!)
5. Click Save

✅ GitHub will show a message: “Your site is ready to be published at…”

Wait 2-3 minutes for the build to complete.

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Step 2: Verify Deployment (1 minute)

1. Your site will be live at:

   https://iamsothirsty.github.io/Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory/
   

2. Test these pages:
   • Home: https://iamsothirsty.github.io/Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory/index.html
   • Search: https://iamsothirsty.github.io/Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory/search.html
   • Characters: https://iamsothirsty.github.io/Hub_of_Epstein_Files_Directory/characters.html

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Step 3: Optional - Custom Domain (5 minutes)

If you want a custom domain like epsteinfiles.org:

1. Buy domain from provider (Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.)
2. In GitHub Settings → Pages → Custom domain, enter: epsteinfiles.org
3. Add these DNS records at your domain provider:

   Type: CNAME
   Name: www
   Value: iamsothirsty.github.io
      
   Type: A
   Name: @
   Values:
   185.199.108.153
   185.199.109.153
   185.199.110.153
   185.199.111.153
   

4. Wait 24-48 hours for DNS propagation

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Step 4: Fetch Public Files (Optional - 2 hours)

If you want to populate the site with FBI Vault files:

# 1. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Install system dependencies
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr poppler-utils

# macOS:
brew install tesseract poppler

# 2. Fetch FBI Vault files (22 PDFs)
python scripts/fetch-public-files.py
# Select "FBI Vault" when prompted

# 3. Process PDFs (text extraction + OCR)
python scripts/process-pdfs.py

# 4. Generate search index
python scripts/generate-search-index.py

# 5. Commit and push
git add data/ web/js/search-index.js
git commit -m "Add FBI Vault documents and search index"
git push

Wait 2-3 minutes for GitHub Pages to rebuild.

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Step 5: Enable Automated Updates (Optional - 5 minutes)

The repository includes workflows that will automatically fetch and process files monthly.

No action needed! The workflows are already configured in .github/workflows/:

• fetch-public-files.yml - Monthly FBI/DOJ file fetching
• update-search-index.yml - Weekly search index updates

You can also trigger them manually:

1. Go to Actions tab
2. Select workflow (e.g., “Fetch and Process Public Files”)
3. Click Run workflow

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Troubleshooting

Site not loading after 5 minutes?

• Check Actions tab for build errors
• Verify Settings → Pages shows “Your site is published”
• Try clearing browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+R)

Search not working?

• Make sure you’ve generated the search index: python scripts/generate-search-index.py
• Check that web/js/search-index.js exists
• Open browser console (F12) to check for JavaScript errors

404 errors on navigation?

• Ensure GitHub Pages source is set to /web folder, not root
• Check that all file paths are relative (no leading /)

Files too large for GitHub?

• Use Git LFS for files > 50MB: git lfs track "*.pdf"
• Or host large files externally (Archive.org, Cloudflare R2)

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Performance Optimization

Enable Cloudflare CDN (Free)

1. Sign up at cloudflare.com
2. Add your custom domain
3. Update nameservers at your domain provider
4. Enable caching and compression in Cloudflare dashboard

Benefits:

• Faster loading (CDN caching)
• 100GB free bandwidth
• DDoS protection
• Analytics

Compress Images

# Install tools
npm install -g imagemin-cli

# Compress all images
imagemin web/images/* --out-dir=web/images/

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Monitoring & Analytics

Free Options:

1. GitHub Pages Stats: Settings → Insights → Traffic
2. Google Analytics: Add tracking code to web/index.html
3. Cloudflare Analytics: Built-in if using Cloudflare

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Cost Summary

Item	Cost
GitHub Pages hosting	$0
GitHub Actions (2,000 min/month)	$0
SSL certificate	$0 (included)
Custom domain (optional)	$10-15/year
Cloudflare CDN (optional)	$0
TOTAL	$0-15/year

Annual savings vs. Azure full setup: $15,720+

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Next Steps After Deployment

1. ✅ Merge PR to main branch
2. ✅ Update GitHub Pages source to main branch
3. ✅ Share the URL with your community
4. ✅ Monitor traffic and performance
5. ✅ Add more documents as they become available
6. ✅ Set up custom domain (optional)

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Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Check the FREE_TIER_SETUP.md guide
2. Review PUBLIC_FILES_INTEGRATION.md
3. Open an issue on GitHub
4. Check GitHub Pages documentation

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Success Checklist

After deployment, verify these work:

• Home page loads
• Search page loads
• Search functionality works (try searching “Little St. James”)
• Character guide loads
• Locations page loads
• Infographics page loads
• Navigation works between pages
• Mobile responsive design works
• HTTPS certificate active (padlock in browser)

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Congratulations! Your FREE Epstein Files Hub is now live! 🎉

**Monthly cost: $0

Setup time: 5-10 minutes

Annual savings: $15,720+**