Nicola Amadeo

Getting Started with Hugo: A Modern Static Site Generator

Getting Started with Hugo

Hugo is one of the most popular static site generators available today, and for good reason. It’s incredibly fast, flexible, and easy to use once you understand the basics.

Why Choose Hugo?

Hugo offers several compelling advantages:

  • Speed: Hugo can build most websites in milliseconds, making it perfect for large sites
  • No Dependencies: Written in Go, Hugo is a single binary with no external dependencies
  • Flexibility: Supports multiple content types, custom taxonomies, and powerful templating
  • Developer Experience: Hot reload during development makes iteration quick and painless

Installation

Installing Hugo is straightforward. On macOS, you can use Homebrew:

brew install hugo

On Windows, use Chocolatey:

choco install hugo-extended

Or download the binary directly from the official releases page.

Creating Your First Site

Once Hugo is installed, create a new site with:

hugo new site my-awesome-site
cd my-awesome-site

This creates the basic Hugo directory structure:

my-awesome-site/
├── archetypes/
├── content/
├── data/
├── layouts/
├── static/
├── themes/
└── config.toml

Adding a Theme

Hugo uses themes to control the appearance of your site. You can browse themes at themes.gohugo.io. To add a theme:

git init
git submodule add https://github.com/username/theme-name.git themes/theme-name

Then update your config.toml to use the theme:

theme = "theme-name"

Creating Content

Create your first blog post with:

hugo new posts/my-first-post.md

Hugo will generate a markdown file with front matter:

---
title: "My First Post"
date: 2025-10-01T10:00:00Z
draft: true
---

Add your content below the front matter using markdown syntax.

Running the Development Server

Start the local development server with:

hugo server -D

The -D flag includes draft content. Your site will be available at http://localhost:1313 and will automatically reload when you make changes.

Building for Production

When you’re ready to deploy, build your site with:

hugo

This generates static HTML files in the public/ directory, ready to be deployed to any web server or hosting service.

Deployment Options

Hugo sites can be deployed anywhere that serves static files:

  • GitHub Pages: Free hosting with custom domains
  • Netlify: Continuous deployment from Git with CDN
  • Vercel: Zero-config deployments with serverless functions
  • AWS S3: Scalable cloud storage with CloudFront CDN

Next Steps

Now that you have the basics:

  1. Explore Hugo’s documentation
  2. Customize your theme or create your own
  3. Add custom shortcodes for reusable content blocks
  4. Set up automated deployments with GitHub Actions

Hugo’s power lies in its simplicity and speed. Start small, experiment, and gradually build more complex sites as you become comfortable with the framework.

Happy building! 🚀