---
layout: docs
title: Basic Usage
prev_section: installation
next_section: structure
permalink: /docs/usage/
---

The Jekyll gem makes a `jekyll` executable available to you in your Terminal
window. You can use this command in a number of ways:

{% highlight bash %}
$ jekyll build
# => The current folder will be generated into ./_site

$ jekyll build --destination <destination>
# => The current folder will be generated into <destination>

$ jekyll build --source <source> --destination <destination>
# => The <source> folder will be generated into <destination>

$ jekyll build --watch
# => The current folder will be generated into ./_site,
#    watched for changes, and regenerated automatically.
{% endhighlight %}

Jekyll also comes with a built-in development server that will allow you to
preview what the generated site will look like in your browser locally.

{% highlight bash %}
$ jekyll serve
# => A development server will run at http://localhost:4000/

$ jekyll serve --detach
# => Same as `jekyll serve` but will detach from the current terminal.
#    If you need to kill the server, you can `kill -9 1234` where "1234" is the PID.
#    If you cannot find the PID, then do, `ps aux | grep jekyll` and kill the instance. [Read more](http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/shell/jobz5.html).

$ jekyll serve --watch
# => Same as `jekyll serve`, but watch for changes and regenerate automatically.
{% endhighlight %}

This is just a few of the available [configuration options](../configuration/).
Many configuration options can either be specified as flags on the command line,
or alternatively (and more commonly) they can be specified in a `_config.yml`
file at the root of the source directory. Jekyll will automatically use the
options from this file when run. For example, if you place the following lines
in your `_config.yml` file:

{% highlight yaml %}
source:      _source
destination: _deploy
{% endhighlight %}

Then the following two commands will be equivalent:

{% highlight bash %}
$ jekyll build
$ jekyll build --source _source --destination _deploy
{% endhighlight %}

For more about the possible configuration options, see the
[configuration](../configuration/) page.