Create ReactJS app and deploy to Github pages

Requirements

NodeJS Install from here. Check version with: $ node --version
npm Check version with: $ npm --version

Create React app

You can npm install create-react-app globally with:

$ npm install -g create-react-app
$ create-react-app my-app

Alternatively, you can use npx (a tool to execute packages) to create the app withput installing create-react-app. This way is recommended by the docs.

$ npx create-react-app my-app
$ cd my-app
$ npm start

This will lunch a server where you can see your app.

Deploying to Github Pages

1) Install the gh-pages package as a "dev-dependency" of the app

$ npm install gh-pages --save-dev

2) Create an empty repository on Github

Go to github.com and create a repo. We will name it named react-gh-pages.

3) Modify the package.json file

At the top level, add a homepage property:

"homepage": "https://gitname.github.io/react-gh-pages"

In the existing scripts property, add the following:

"scripts": {
  //...
  "predeploy": "npm run build",
  "deploy": "gh-pages -d build"
}

4) Add the GitHub repository as a "remote" in your local git repository

$ git remote add origin https://github.com/gitname/react-gh-pages.git

5) Generate a production build of your app, and deploy it to GitHub Pages

$ npm run deploy

The app is now accessible at https://gitname.github.io/react-gh-pages/

6) Optionally, commit your source code to the "master" branch and push your commit to GitHub.

$ git add .
$ git commit -m "Create a React app and publish it to GitHub Pages"
$ git push origin master

So, the master branch helds the source code, and the gh-pages branch helds the built app code.