Front matter

Overview

The front matter at the top of each content file is metadata that:

• Describes the content
• Augments the content
• Establishes relationships with other content
• Controls the published structure of your site
• Determines template selection

Provide front matter using a serialization format, one of JSON, TOML, or YAML. Hugo determines the front matter format by examining the delimiters that separate the front matter from the page content.

See examples of front matter delimiters by toggling between the serialization formats below.

---
date: 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft: false
params:
  author: John Smith
title: Example
weight: 10
---

+++
date = 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft = false
title = 'Example'
weight = 10
[params]
  author = 'John Smith'
+++

{
   "date": "2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00",
   "draft": false,
   "params": {
      "author": "John Smith"
   },
   "title": "Example",
   "weight": 10
}

Front matter fields may be boolean, integer, float, string, arrays, or maps. Note that the TOML format also supports unquoted date/time values.

Fields

The most common front matter fields are date, draft, title, and weight, but you can specify metadata using any of fields below.

aliases

(string array) An array of one or more aliases, where each alias is a relative URL that will redirect the browser to the current location. Access these values from a template using the Aliases method on a Page object. See the aliases section for details.

build

(map) A map of build options.

cascade

(map) A map (or a slice of maps) of front matter keys whose values are passed down to the page’s descendants unless overwritten by self or a closer ancestor’s cascade. See the cascade section for details.

date

(string) The date associated with the page, typically the creation date. Note that the TOML format also supports unquoted date/time values. See the dates section for examples. Access this value from a template using the Date method on a Page object.

description

(string) Conceptually different than the page summary, the description is typically rendered within a meta element within the head element of the published HTML file. Access this value from a template using the Description method on a Page object.

draft

(bool) Whether to disable rendering unless you pass the --buildDrafts flag to the hugo command. Access this value from a template using the Draft method on a Page object.

expiryDate

(string) The page expiration date. On or after the expiration date, the page will not be rendered unless you pass the --buildExpired flag to the hugo command. Note that the TOML format also supports unquoted date/time values. See the dates section for examples. Access this value from a template using the ExpiryDate method on a Page object.

headless

(bool) Applicable to leaf bundles, whether to set the render and list build options to never, creating a headless bundle of page resources.

isCJKLanguage

(bool) Whether the content language is in the CJK family. This value determines how Hugo calculates word count, and affects the values returned by the WordCount, FuzzyWordCount, ReadingTime, and Summary methods on a Page object.

keywords

(string array) An array of keywords, typically rendered within a meta element within the head element of the published HTML file, or used as a taxonomy to classify content. Access these values from a template using the Keywords method on a Page object.

lastmod

(string) The date that the page was last modified. Note that the TOML format also supports unquoted date/time values. See the dates section for examples. Access this value from a template using the Lastmod method on a Page object.

layout

(string) Provide a template name to target a specific template, overriding the default template lookup order. Set the value to the base file name of the template, excluding its extension. Access this value from a template using the Layout method on a Page object.

linkTitle

(string) Typically a shorter version of the title. Access this value from a template using the LinkTitle method on a Page object.

markup

(string) An identifier corresponding to one of the supported content formats. If not provided, Hugo determines the content renderer based on the file extension.

menus

(string, string array, or map) If set, Hugo adds the page to the given menu or menus. See the menus page for details.

modified

Alias to lastmod.

outputs

(string array) The output formats to render. See configure outputs for more information.

params

New in v0.123.0

(map) A map of custom page parameters.

pubdate

Alias to publishDate.

publishDate

(string) The page publication date. Before the publication date, the page will not be rendered unless you pass the --buildFuture flag to the hugo command. Note that the TOML format also supports unquoted date/time values. See the dates section for examples. Access this value from a template using the PublishDate method on a Page object.

published

Alias to publishDate.

resources

(map array) An array of maps to provide metadata for page resources.

sitemap

(map) A map of sitemap options. See the sitemap templates page for details. Access these values from a template using the Sitemap method on a Page object.

slug

(string) Overrides the last segment of the URL path. Not applicable to home, section, taxonomy, or term pages. See the URL management page for details. Access this value from a template using the Slug method on a Page object.

summary

(string) Conceptually different than the page description, the summary either summarizes the content or serves as a teaser to encourage readers to visit the page. Access this value from a template using the Summary method on a Page object.

title

(string) The page title. Access this value from a template using the Title method on a Page object.

translationKey

(string) An arbitrary value used to relate two or more translations of the same page, useful when the translated pages do not share a common path. Access this value from a template using the TranslationKey method on a Page object.

type

(string) The content type, overriding the value derived from the top-level section in which the page resides. Access this value from a template using the Type method on a Page object.

unpublishdate

Alias to expirydate.

url

(string) Overrides the entire URL path. Applicable to regular pages and section pages. See the URL management page for details.

weight

(int) The page weight, used to order the page within a page collection. Access this value from a template using the Weight method on a Page object.

Parameters

Specify custom page parameters under the params key in front matter:

---
date: 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft: false
params:
  author: John Smith
title: Example
weight: 10
---

+++
date = 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft = false
title = 'Example'
weight = 10
[params]
  author = 'John Smith'
+++

{
   "date": "2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00",
   "draft": false,
   "params": {
      "author": "John Smith"
   },
   "title": "Example",
   "weight": 10
}

Access these values from a template using the Params or Param method on a Page object.

Hugo provides embedded templates to optionally insert meta data within the head element of your rendered pages. These embedded templates expect the following front matter parameters:

The embedded templates will skip a parameter if not provided in front matter, but will throw an error if the data type is unexpected.

Taxonomies

Classify content by adding taxonomy terms to front matter. For example, with this site configuration:

taxonomies:
  genre: genres
  tag: tags

[taxonomies]
  genre = 'genres'
  tag = 'tags'

{
   "taxonomies": {
      "genre": "genres",
      "tag": "tags"
   }
}

Add taxonomy terms as shown below:

---
date: 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft: false
genres:
- mystery
- romance
params:
  author: John Smith
tags:
- red
- blue
title: Example
weight: 10
---

+++
date = 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
draft = false
genres = ['mystery', 'romance']
tags = ['red', 'blue']
title = 'Example'
weight = 10
[params]
  author = 'John Smith'
+++

{
   "date": "2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00",
   "draft": false,
   "genres": [
      "mystery",
      "romance"
   ],
   "params": {
      "author": "John Smith"
   },
   "tags": [
      "red",
      "blue"
   ],
   "title": "Example",
   "weight": 10
}

You can add taxonomy terms to the front matter of any these page kinds:

• home
• page
• section
• taxonomy
• term

Access taxonomy terms from a template using the Params or GetTerms method on a Page object. For example:

{{ with .GetTerms "tags" }}
  <p>Tags</p>
  <ul>
    {{ range . }}
      <li><a href="{{ .RelPermalink }}">{{ .LinkTitle }}</a></li>
    {{ end }}
  </ul>
{{ end }}

Cascade

A node can cascade front matter values to its descendants. However, this cascading will be prevented if the descendant already defines the field, or if a closer ancestor node has already cascaded a value for that same field.

For example, to cascade a “color” parameter from the home page to all its descendants:

---
cascade:
  params:
    color: red
title: Home
---

+++
title = 'Home'
[cascade]
  [cascade.params]
    color = 'red'
+++

{
   "cascade": {
      "params": {
         "color": "red"
      }
   },
   "title": "Home"
}

Target

The target¹ keyword allows you to target specific pages or environments. For example, to cascade a “color” parameter from the home page only to pages within the “articles” section, including the “articles” section page itself:

---
cascade:
  params:
    color: red
  target:
    path: '{/articles,/articles/**}'
title: Home
---

+++
title = 'Home'
[cascade]
  [cascade.params]
    color = 'red'
  [cascade.target]
    path = '{/articles,/articles/**}'
+++

{
   "cascade": {
      "params": {
         "color": "red"
      },
      "target": {
         "path": "{/articles,/articles/**}"
      }
   },
   "title": "Home"
}

Use any combination of these keywords to target pages and/or environments:

environment

(string) A glob pattern matching the build environment. For example: {staging,production}.

kind

(string) A glob pattern matching the page kind. For example: {taxonomy,term}.

path

(string) A glob pattern matching the page’s logical path. For example: {/books,/books/**}.

Array

Define an array of cascade parameters to apply different values to different targets. For example:

---
cascade:
- params:
    color: red
  target:
    kind: page
    path: '{/books/**}'
- params:
    color: blue
  target:
    kind: page
    path: '{/films/**}'
title: Home
---

+++
title = 'Home'
[[cascade]]
  [cascade.params]
    color = 'red'
  [cascade.target]
    kind = 'page'
    path = '{/books/**}'
[[cascade]]
  [cascade.params]
    color = 'blue'
  [cascade.target]
    kind = 'page'
    path = '{/films/**}'
+++

{
   "cascade": [
      {
         "params": {
            "color": "red"
         },
         "target": {
            "kind": "page",
            "path": "{/books/**}"
         }
      },
      {
         "params": {
            "color": "blue"
         },
         "target": {
            "kind": "page",
            "path": "{/films/**}"
         }
      }
   ],
   "title": "Home"
}

Emacs Org Mode

If your content format is Emacs Org Mode, you may provide front matter using Org Mode keywords. For example:

#+TITLE: Example
#+DATE: 2024-02-02T04:14:54-08:00
#+DRAFT: false
#+AUTHOR: John Smith
#+GENRES: mystery
#+GENRES: romance
#+TAGS: red
#+TAGS: blue
#+WEIGHT: 10

Note that you can also specify array elements on a single line:

#+TAGS[]: red blue

Dates

When populating a date field, whether a custom page parameter or one of the four predefined fields (date, expiryDate, lastmod, publishDate), use one of these parsable formats:

The last three examples are not fully qualified, and default to the Etc/UTC time zone.

To override the default time zone, set the timeZone in your site configuration. The order of precedence for determining the time zone is:

1. The time zone offset in the date/time string
2. The time zone specified in your site configuration
3. The Etc/UTC time zone