diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-website.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-website.yml
index 7dcf6c64..aaa134c1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-website.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-website.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 # Rebuilds the published site on the gh-pages branch: downloads any Checker Framework or
 # Annotation File Utilities release that is not on the site yet, regenerates the pages from
-# the templates in src/main/resources, and pushes the result.
+# the templates in src/main/resources, copies the site's hand-written pages (index.md,
+# 404.html) and _config.yml from master, and pushes the result.
 #
 # It runs daily on a schedule (checking if new releases exist before checking out gh-pages),
 # or can be run manually from the Actions tab. Manual runs default to a dry run.
+# The scheduled check only looks for new releases, so after changing a page on master,
+# run the workflow manually to publish it.
 
 name: Publish website
 
@@ -106,9 +109,14 @@ jobs:
             fi
           done
 
+      - name: Copy the hand-written site pages and configuration from master
+        # These are edited on master, but only the generated afu/ and cf/ trees used to be
+        # published, so edits to them never reached the site.
+        run: cp generator/index.md generator/404.html generator/_config.yml site/
+
       - name: Stage changes
         working-directory: site
-        run: git add -A afu cf
+        run: git add -A afu cf index.md 404.html _config.yml
 
       - name: Summarize the changes
         working-directory: site
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3958e110..dc92afda 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,16 +20,20 @@ box unchecked to publish.
 git checkout master
 mvn package
 git checkout gh-pages
+git checkout master -- index.md 404.html _config.yml
 java -cp ./target/eisop.github.io-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar \
   io.github.eisop.website.EisopSiteGenerator
 git status && git diff                 # review
-git add afu/ cf/ && git commit
+git add afu/ cf/ index.md 404.html _config.yml && git commit
 git push origin gh-pages
 ```
 
 The page templates live in `src/main/resources/` and are packaged into the jar,
 so the generator always uses the templates belonging to the code you built.
-Nothing on `gh-pages` needs to be kept in sync with `master`.
+The hand-written pages `index.md` and `404.html` and the Jekyll configuration
+`_config.yml` are edited on `master` and copied to `gh-pages` when publishing.
+The scheduled run publishes only when there is a new release, so after editing
+one of them, run the workflow manually.
 
 ### Pre-release validation