NOTE: Repo moved to https://github.com/nicegist/nicegist.github.io

Nicegist - a permanent gist.io alternative

writing for hackers · zero setup · publish in seconds

A pure JavaScript gist.io replacement, hosted on GitHub*.

* As long as GitHub exists, it will not die. Yay!

About

When I recognized that gist.io is dead, I stumbled upon a comment in gist.io's issue tracker, that suggested to build a pure JavaScript implementation to be hosted on GitHub pages.

I liked the idea. Thus, Nicegist was born.

Features

💥 Supports gist embedding (use <gist> tags, i.e. <gist>file.sh</gist>)
Supports public and secret gists
Supports CommonMark / GFM syntax
Automatic code block syntax highlighting
Automatic headline anchors

Usage

Create a gist on Github with one or more Markdown-syntax files.
Note the gist ID. (It's usually a longish alpha-numeric string like dab5cf7977008e504213.)
View your writing presented nicely at eyecatchup.github.io/nicegist/YOUR_GIST_ID

Bookmarklet:

Be lazy and drag the Nicegist bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar.
Click it when you’re on a gist page, and it will take you to the corresponding Nicegist page.

javascript:(function(){if(location.hostname==="gist.github.com"){var gistId=location.pathname.split("/").pop();if(location.pathname.split("/").length>2&&gistId.length)location.href="https://eyecatchup.github.io/nicegist/?id="+gistId}})();

Examples:

Code blocks: Nicegist, Source
Tables: Nicegist, Source
💥 Embedded gists: Nicegist, Source
Text formatting, images & more: Nicegist, Source
Example writeup: Nicegist, Source

Under the hood

GitHub Gist API for fetching gists
Chromium destilled webpage layout for optimized reading experience
markdown-it for Markdown parsing
markdown-it-anchor for automated header anchors
highlight.js for code block syntax highlighting
Some regex sugar and a hidden gist feature for gist embedding
GitHub Pages SPA hack for pretty URLs

License