Create a new Jekyll project in an existing folder

Creating a new Jekyll project without an existing project folder is simple. Just run jekyll new project_name and the Jekyll command line tool will automatically create a new folder called project_name and scaffold all the files you new for a new Jekyll project.

But let’s say you’ve got an existing folder that you wanted to use for a new Jekyll project. There are a couple of ways to achieve this.

The first method is by first entering into the existing folder by using cd existing_folder replacing existing_folder with the name of the folder you desire to use for your new Jekyll project. Once you’re in the project folder, type in this Jekyll command jekyll new . --force. Like before we’re telling the Jekyll command line tool to generate a new Jekyll project. . indicates that we want to create the new project in the current folder we’re in and the --force option is to tell Jekyll to force this command. The force option is needed because by default, the Jekyll tool won’t run the new . command in an existing, non-empty folder.

The second method, you don’t have to be in the existing folder; simply run this command jekyll new existing_folder --force. Like the command run in the first method, this will create a new Jekyll project in the non-empty folder called existing_folder.

Creating a new Jekyll project in an existing folder also doesn’t replace any existing files, it just adds the Jekyll specific files. This is a good benefit if you’ve already versioned the folder. In your next commit all you have to do is push up the new Jekyll specific files.