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+---
+layout: post
+title: LESS File Compilation for Jekyll and GitHub Pages
+description: Git’s pre-commit hook allows one-click static site deployment — including LESS file compilation — to GitHub pages.
+category: writing
+date: 2014-05-31 00:00:00
+---
+
+I recently wrote about [migrating my website to GitHub Pages](/writing/migrating-to-github-pages-and-jekyll) and noted that I wasn’t completely satisfied with my deployment workflow. Ideally, [creating a build should be done in a single step](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html). As I wrote, my previous build workflow required me to manually compile my [LESS](http://lesscss.org) files before committing if I’d made changes. While my stylesheet doesn’t change often, this method is certainly not ideal.
+
+Using [Git hooks](http://git-scm.com/book/en/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks), it’s possible to run a script at certain points during the Git workflow. To take advantage of this in my case, I added a small bash script to `.git/hooks/pre-commit`:
+
+```bash
+#!/bin/sh
+
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
+cd /Users/Ben/Documents/Code/benburwell.github.io/assets/less
+lessc --clean-css style.less ../css/style.css
+cd /Users/Ben/Documents/Code/benburwell.github.io
+git add /Users/Ben/Documents/Code/benburwell.github.io/assets/css/style.css
+```
+
+This is a pretty rough script, but it gets the job done for me. For a much more thorough script, see [this article by TJ VanToll](http://tjvantoll.com/2012/07/07/the-ideal-less-workflow-with-git/).