always build but don't always publish

docs/.gitlab-ci.yml

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 image: python:3.11
-pages:
-  stage: deploy
+
+build_site:
+  stage: build
   script:
     - cd ./docs
     - pip install -r requirements.txt
@@ -8,5 +9,15 @@ pages:
   artifacts:
     paths:
       - public
-  # rules:
-  #   - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'
+
+pages:
+  stage: deploy
+  script:
+    - echo "Publishing site..."
+  dependencies:
+    - build_site
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - public
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'