How to Create Free CDN Links for Your Projects (Just Like Bootstrap)

byManzar Abbas •
0

 

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Ever been there? You build a fantastic new project on your computer. 

Your index.html file proudly links to your local style.css and script.js files. Everything looks perfect.

But then you try to show it off.

You upload it to a server, and suddenly all the styling is gone. Or you try to build a quick 

demo on a site like CodePen, and you realize you can't link to a file on your C: drive.

Or maybe you've just looked at the source code of a professional website. You see those 

clean, powerful links.

You see Bootstrap, jQuery, and Font Awesome, all loading from a super-fast "cdn.jsdelivr.net" or "cdnjs.cloudflare.com" URL. And you've probably wondered, "That looks professional. How can I get a link like that for my own CSS and JavaScript files?"

If that's you, I have great news. You can.

And it is 100% free, incredibly easy, and ridiculously fast.

In this article, I'm going to show you exactly how to host your own static files (CSS, JS, even images) on a world-class Content Delivery Network (CDN) for free. You'll be able to link to your files from any website, share them in demos, and speed up your projects, just like the pros.

What is a CDN, Anyway? (And Why Should I Care?)

Before we dive into the "how-to," let's quickly cover the "why." What is this CDN magic?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network.

Think of it like a global pizza chain 🍕.

  • Without a CDN: You run a single pizza shop (your web server) in one city (say, London). If someone from Los Angeles wants your pizza, they have to wait for it to be delivered all the way from London. It's going to be slow and cold by the time it gets there.

  • With a CDN: You're now a massive chain. You have kitchens (servers) in London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, and hundreds of other cities. When that person in Los Angeles orders a pizza, the local Los Angeles kitchen makes it and delivers it in 10 minutes. It's fast, fresh, and efficient.

A CDN does the exact same thing for your website files. Instead of your style.css file living on one server, the CDN copies it to "edge servers" all over the world.

When a user from Japan visits your site, they download the file from a server in Tokyo, not your main server in Germany.

The Benefits are Huge:

 Blazing Speed: Users get files from a server physically close to them, which dramatically reduces latency (lag).

  1.  High Reliability: If one server goes down, the CDN automatically reroutes traffic to the next closest server. Your site stays up.

  2.  Reduced Load: The CDN handles all the traffic for your assets, so your main web server (even a small, cheap one) only has to worry about sending the basic HTML.

  3.  It's Free!: For open-source and public projects, the methods we'll cover are completely free.

Now that you're sold on why you need a CDN, let's build your first free link.


The "Bootstrap" Method: Meet Your New Best Friends

 The most popular, reliable, and powerful method for hosting your own files for free involves two services you probably already know:

  1. GitHub: The world's largest platform for hosting code. We'll use this as our "central warehouse."

  2. jsDelivr: A free, lightning-fast, public CDN that automatically pulls files from GitHub (and other sources) and serves them.

The workflow is simple: You store your files (like my-style.css) in a public GitHub repository. jsDelivr then grabs that file, distributes it across its global network, and gives you a permanent, high-speed link to it.

Let's do it step-by-step.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating Your First Free CDN Link

We'll go from having a file on your computer to having a live CDN link in just a few minutes.

Step 1: Get Your Code on GitHub

Your files need to be in a public GitHub repository for jsDelivr to see them.

If you already use Git and GitHub: You know what to do. Create a new public repo, git add ., git commit, and git push. You can skip to Step 2.

If you are new to GitHub: Don't worry! This is easy, and you don't even need to use the command line.

  1. Create a GitHub Account: If you don't have one, go to github.com and sign up for a free account.

  2. Create a New Repository:

    • Once logged in, click the "+" icon in the top-right corner and select "New repository".

    • Repository name: Give it a simple name. Let's say my-cdn-assets.

    • Description: (Optional) "My public assets for all my projects."

    • Public vs. Private: This is CRITICAL. You must select Public. jsDelivr cannot access private repositories.

    • Click "Create repository".

  3. Upload Your Files:

    • You now have an empty repository. On the main page of your repo, click the "Add file" button and choose "Upload files".

    • Drag and drop your style.css, script.js, images, or any other static files you want to host. You can even upload entire folders.

    • At the bottom, type a "commit message" (a simple note like "Add project files") and click "Commit changes".

That's it! Your code is now live on GitHub. You can see your files listed in the repository.

Step 2: Create a "Release" (The Best Practice)

You could link to your files directly from the "main" branch, but this is a bad idea for production. Why? Because that link always points to the latest version. If you push a new change, jsDelivr's cache might get confused, or you might accidentally break your live site.

The professional way is to version your files using a "Release." This "freezes" your code at a specific point in time and gives you a stable version number, like v1.0.0.

  1. On your repository's main page, look on the right-hand side and click "Releases" (it might be under "Create a new...").

  2. Click "Draft a new release" or "Create a new release".

  3. Choose a tag: Click this box and type a version number. For your first one, v1.0.0 is perfect. Click "Create new tag: v1.0.0".

  4. Release title: You can just call it v1.0.0.

  5. Click the "Publish release" button.

Congratulations! You have now "versioned" your code. This is the snapshot jsDelivr will use.

Step 3: Master the jsDelivr URL Format (The Magic Part)

This is the key. jsDelivr has a simple URL structure to instantly grab any file from any public GitHub repo.

The format is:

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/USER/REPO@VERSION/FILE_PATH

Let's break that down:

  • https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/ This is the standard prefix. gh stands for "GitHub."

  • USER This is your GitHub username. (e.g., octocat)

  • REPO This is the name of your repository. (e.g., my-cdn-assets)

  • @VERSION This is the release tag you just created. (e.g., @v1.0.0)

  • FILE_PATH This is the full path to your file inside the repository. (e.g., css/style.css or just script.js) (alert-success)

Example: Putting It All Together

Let's say your details are:

  • Username: web-developer-alex

  • Repository: my-cool-project

  • Release Tag: v1.0.2

  • File: You have a file named main.css inside a folder named assets. So the path is assets/main.css.

Your final, production-ready CDN link would be:

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/web-developer-alex/my-cool-project@v1.0.2/assets/main.css

Step 4: Use Your New CDN Link in Your HTML

Now, you can go to any HTML file, on any website, anywhere on the internet, and use that link:

HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>My Awesome Site</title>
    
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/web-developer-alex/
my-cool-project@v1.0.2/assets/main.css">
</head>
<body>
    <h1>It works!</h1>
    <p>This page is styled by my very own free CDN.</p>
</body>
</html> (code-box)

What If I Just Want to Quickly Test Something?
"Creating a release seems like a lot of work. I just want a link for a quick CodePen demo!"
No problem. You can link directly to a branch (like main) instead of a version tag.
The format is almost the same, just omit the @VERSION:
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/USER/REPO/FILE_PATH
Example:
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/web-developer-alex/my-cool-project/assets/main.css
This link will always serve the latest version of main.css from your main branch.
⚠️ Warning: This is great for testing and demos, but do not use this for production. jsDelivr caches files very aggressively (sometimes for days). If you push a change to GitHub, you might not see it on your live site for a long time, leading to massive confusion. Always use versioned links (@v1.0.0) for live websites.
Pro-Tip: Purging the Cache
If you really need to force jsDelivr to update its cache for a specific file, you can. Go to https://www.jsdelivr.com/tools/purge and paste your jsDelivr URL to clear it. Use this sparingly!
The #1 Mistake: Why You MUST NOT Use GitHub Raw Links
This is the most common pitfall, and it's a critical one.
When you're on GitHub, you can click on your style.css file and then click a button that says "Raw". This gives you a URL that looks like this:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/USER/REPO/main/style.css
It's tempting to use this link in your HTML. DO NOT DO IT.
This will fail 100% of the time.
Why GitHub Raw Links Fail:
  1. Wrong Content-Type: This is the technical killer. GitHub serves these "raw" files with a Content-Type header of text/plain. Your browser, however, expects a CSS file to be text/css and a JavaScript file to be application/javascript. When it sees text/plain, it says, "This isn't code, it's just plain text," and ignores the file completely. Your console will show a "MIME type" error.
  2. It's Not a CDN: This link is served from a single GitHub server. It's slow and not built for high traffic.
  3. Rate Limiting: GitHub actively monitors and throttles (slows down) or blocks traffic from raw.githubusercontent.com if it's used as a CDN. It's against their terms of service.
The rule is simple: raw.githubusercontent.com is for computers to read files. cdn.jsdelivr.net is for browsers to use files.
Other Free "CDN-like" Alternatives
While GitHub + jsDelivr is my #1 recommendation, here are a few other great options.
Alternative 1: Netlify Drop (The 1-Minute CDN)
This is the fastest possible way to get a public link.
  1. Go to app.netlify.com/drop
  2. Drag and drop a folder containing your files (style.css, script.js, etc.) onto the page.
  3. That's it. Netlify will instantly upload your folder and give you a random, public URL, like httpsa://jolly-biscuit-123abc.netlify.app.
You can then link to your files like this:
https://jolly-biscuit-123abc.netlify.app/style.css
  • Pros: Insanely fast setup. No account needed.
  • Cons: The URL is random and ugly. Updating files is harder (you have to re-upload the whole folder).
Alternative 2: Cloudflare Pages / GitHub Pages
Both of these services are designed to host entire static websites for free. But you can absolutely use them to host just your assets.
You would connect your GitHub repository (e.g., my-cdn-assets) to Cloudflare Pages. It will build and deploy your site, giving you a URL like my-cdn-assets.pages.dev.
You can then link to your files: https://my-cdn-assets.pages.dev/css/main.css
  • Pros: Incredibly robust, part of a powerful ecosystem, gives you a nice .pages.dev subdomain.
  • Cons: More setup than the other methods. It's like using a cannon to kill a fly if you only need one file.

F.A.Q: Quick Answers to Common Questions
Q: Is this really free? What's the catch?
A: Yes, it is 100% free for public, open-source projects. jsDelivr is sponsored by a collective of hosting and CDN companies. The "catch" is that you shouldn't abuse it. Don't use it to host gigabytes of data, videos, or private business files. It's for project assets (CSS, JS, fonts, images).
Q: What about my private repositories?
A: jsDelivr cannot access private GitHub repos. If you need to host private assets, you must use a service like Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or Firebase Hosting, which can connect to your private repos.
Q: How do I update a file?
A: This is the beauty of versioning!
  1. Make your changes on your local computer.
  2. Upload the new file(s) to GitHub.
  3. Go to "Releases" and create a new release (e.g., v1.0.1).
  4. Update the link in your HTML from ...@v1.0.0/style.css to ...@v1.0.1/style.css.
This new, versioned link tells all browsers and CDNs, "This is a brand new file, download it immediately!" This is called "cache busting" and is the correct way to push updates.
Q: Can I host images?
A: Yes! The process is identical. A link might look like: https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/USER/REPO@v1.0.0/images/logo.png. It's perfect for logos, icons, and backgrounds.
Conclusion: Go Build Something Awesome!
You now have the power.
You are no longer tied to local files or "hotlinking" from other people's websites. You can now create professional, fast, and reliable CDN links for every project you build, for free.
To summarize, your new golden workflow is:
  2. Create: Make a public GitHub repo.
  3. Upload: Add your style.css, script.js, and other assets.
  4. Release: Create a versioned release (e.g., v1.1.0) to lock in your changes.
  5. Link: Use the https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/USER/REPO@VERSION/FILE format.
  6. Profit: Enjoy your blazing-fast, globally-distributed, professional-grade assets. (alert-passed)
Now go turn your local style.css file into a global powerhouse. Happy coding!











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