Build Websites with Hugo: Using with recent Hugo versions

bphogan · 18 April 2025 04:21

Hi friends.

If you’re reading the book and trying to follow along with the first chapter, you’ll immediately find some major differences. Hugo has evolved considerably since I wrote this book. Now when you generate a new Hugo theme, you get a fairly well-defined template with some sensible defaults, so you don’t have to spend too much time in the second chapter getting things working.

Some notable changes:

config.toml is now called hugo.toml. However, config.toml still works.
The archetypes/default.md file now uses a TOML front matter syntax instead of YAML, although YAML still works fine.
hugo new theme basic generates a theme with many of the partials filled in. You should still be able to copy the files as-is and things should work.

However, if you’re looking to follow the book explicitly, download a binary release from GitHub:

Release v0.63.0 · gohugoio/hugo · GitHub is the version used in the book. There’s no build for Applie Silicon chips though.
Release v0.111.3 · gohugoio/hugo · GitHub works well with the book as well.

Hope this helps anyone who’s gotten stuck.