Password Protection for Static Pages

A tiny, zero-configuration password gate for static websites.

This project provides a lightweight client-side barrier for static hosting platforms such as GitHub Pages, Amazon S3, Dropbox, or any generic file host. It is designed for temporary or low-risk use cases where you want to hide content from casual access without running a server.

It is intentionally simple, dependency-free, and works as a single HTML file.

What this is good for

This project is useful when you need:

• A quick way to hide a static site behind a password
• No server, no backend, no database
• No build step or tooling
• Something you can upload anywhere and forget about
• A temporary gate for:
  • Client previews
  • Staging demos
  • Internal documentation
  • Personal pages you do not want indexed
  • Short-lived or ad-hoc sharing

It still gets visits because it solves a very specific problem with almost zero setup.

What this is not

This is not real authentication and should not be treated as security.

It does not protect against:

• Determined attackers
• Brute-force attempts
• Anyone who already knows or guesses the URL
• Directory listing on misconfigured hosts

If you need real access control, use a backend, signed URLs, or platform-level authentication.

How it works

• The password is hashed in the browser using SHA1
• The hash becomes the folder name
• The script attempts to load {hash}/index.html
• If the file exists, the user is redirected
• If it does not exist, access is denied

There is no server-side logic involved.

Setup

1. Upload index.html to the root of your static hosting
2. Open it in a browser and enter your chosen password
3. You will see an “incorrect password” message
4. Copy the value after the # in the URL
5. Create a folder with that exact name
6. Put the content you want to protect inside it

Your final structure should look like:

├── index.html
├── background.jpg
└── this-is-a-hash    # SHA1 hash of your password
    └── index.html    # your original index document

That is it.

Demo

Live demo: chrissy-dev.github.io/protected-github-pages/
Demo password: password

Things to consider

• If directory listing is enabled, this can be bypassed
• Anyone with the direct hashed URL can skip the login
• There is no rate limiting or brute-force protection
• This is intentionally minimal and unopinionated

Treat it as a speed bump, not a lock.

Project status

This is an older project that I no longer actively use, but it remains available because:

• It still solves a real, narrow problem
• It has no dependencies or ongoing maintenance burden
• People still find it useful for temporary setups

The scope will remain deliberately small.

Credits

Original concept and early implementation inspired by @matteobrusa