I'm building a side project and want automatic deploys from GitHub

Absolutely — the easiest way to get automatic deploys from GitHub depends on where you’re deploying.

Common setup options

1) Vercel / Netlify / Cloudflare Pages

If your side project is a frontend app or full-stack app supported by these platforms, this is usually the simplest:

• Connect your GitHub repo
• Choose the branch to deploy from, usually main
• Every push to that branch auto-deploys
• Pull requests often get preview deployments automatically

Best for:

• Next.js
• React/Vite
• static sites
• simple APIs/serverless functions

2) GitHub Actions + your server

If you’re deploying to a VPS, Docker host, or a custom server, use GitHub Actions to deploy on push.

Typical flow:

• Push code to GitHub
• GitHub Action runs tests/build
• Action SSHs into your server or pushes an image to a registry
• Server pulls the new version and restarts

Best for:

• custom backend apps
• Dockerized deployments
• self-hosted infrastructure

Example idea:

• push to main
• workflow runs
• SSH into server
• git pull && npm install && npm run build && pm2 restart app

3) Render / Railway / Fly.io

These platforms also support GitHub integration and automatic deploys:

• connect repo
• select branch
• deploy on every push

Good middle ground if you want less ops work than managing your own server.

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Recommended approach

If you want the fastest path:

• Frontend only: use Vercel
• Full-stack without managing infra: use Render or Railway
• You already have a VPS: use GitHub Actions

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If you want, I can help you set it up

Tell me:

1. What stack you’re using
2. Where you want to deploy
3. Whether you want deploys on main only or on every branch/PR

And I can give you the exact steps or a ready-to-use GitHub Actions workflow.