If you need to force push an subtree

publish-ghpages.md

git checkout master # you can avoid this line if you are in master...
git subtree split --prefix dist -b gh-pages # create a local gh-pages branch containing the splitted output folder
git push -f origin gh-pages:gh-pages # force the push of the gh-pages branch to the remote gh-pages branch at origin
git branch -D gh-pages # delete the local gh-pages because you will need it: ref

Notes from original

Thanks! This was great.

For anyone else stumbling on this, here are some pertinent doc links. Chances are you've seen this stuff, but subtree was new to me.

split overview
split options
push --force
branch -D

More concise approach:

git push origin `git subtree split --prefix dist master`:gh-pages --force

https://gist.github.com/tduarte/eac064b4778711b116bb827f8c9bef7b#gistcomment-2267953

https://dev.to/letsbsocial1/deploying-to-gh-pages-with-git-subtree