Use Docsy as a Hugo Module

• 1: Before you begin
• 2: Create a new site: start with a prepopulated site
• 3: Create a new site: start a new site from scratch

1 - Before you begin

Install Hugo

You need a recent extended version of Hugo, version 0.160.1 or later, to build and preview sites that use Docsy. Check your version, and ensure that the output mentions extended:

hugo version

To install or upgrade, see Install Hugo. If you install from the Hugo releases page, pick an extended asset; you may need to scroll down the list of releases to see it.

For the tool versions that Docsy officially supports, see Official support.

As an npm module

You can conveniently install any Hugo version using hugo-extended (replace latest with the version you want to install):

npm install hugo-extended@latest --save-dev

Install Dart Sass

This section applies to all installation options, not just Hugo-module setups.

Hugo compiles Docsy’s SCSS using the Dart Sass transpiler, which Hugo looks up as the sass CLI on its PATH. For npm-based sites, install the sass-embedded package from your project root, at the version Docsy is tested with:

npm install --save-exact --save-dev sass-embedded@1.102.0

The sass CLI is then on PATH for every npm-run script, so run Hugo through npm scripts. For example, with the following in your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "hugo": "hugo"
  }
}

run any Hugo command as npm run hugo -- ARGS, for example npm run hugo -- server to serve your site locally.

For non-npm setups, see Hugo’s Dart Sass installation guide. For the officially supported Dart Sass version, see Official support.

Install Go language

Hugo’s module management requires the Go language, version 1.18 or later, per Hugo’s requirements. Check your version:

$ go version
go version go1.25.6

To install or upgrade Go, use the Go download page.

Install Git VCS client

Hugo’s module management also requires the Git client. Check your version:

$ git version
git version 2.52.0

To install or upgrade Git, use the Git download page.

Install Node.js

Docsy sources its Bootstrap and Font Awesome assets from npm, so you need Node.js (which provides npm, the Node package manager) to install them. Install or upgrade to the active long-term support (LTS) release (consider using nvm to install and manage Node versions), then check your version:

node -v

Install PostCSS (optional)

This section applies to all installation options, not just Hugo-module setups.

Docsy builds its CSS without PostCSS by default – the shipped CSS targets the Browserslist defaults browsers – so most sites don’t need it. Install PostCSS only if:

• Your site has a right-to-left (RTL) language, or
• You post-process your own CSS with a project-root postcss.config.{js,mjs,cjs} file.

If either applies, install PostCSS from your project root:

npm install --save-dev autoprefixer postcss-cli

What’s next?

With all prerequisites installed, choose how to start off with your new Hugo site

• Start with a prepopulated site (for beginners)
• Start site from scratch (for experts)

2 - Create a new site: start with a prepopulated site

The Docsy example site gives you a skeleton structure for your site, with top-level and documentation sections and templates that you can modify as necessary.

If you prefer to create a site from scratch, follow Start a site from scratch.

TL;DR: Setup for the impatient expert

With the prerequisites installed (on Windows, including Bash on your PATH), run:

git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.16.0 https://github.com/google/docsy-example.git my-new-site
cd my-new-site
npm run install:safe
npm run serve

Preview at http://localhost:1313/. If the build fails, see Troubleshooting.

Detailed Setup instructions

Clone the Docsy example site

There are two routes to get a local clone of the example site:

Option 1: Using the command line (local copy only)

For a local copy or a non-GitHub remote, clone the released example site, giving your chosen local repo name (here: my-new-site) as the last parameter:

git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.16.0 https://github.com/google/docsy-example.git my-new-site

Option 2: Using the GitHub UI (local copy + associated GitHub repo)

The example site is a template repository, so you can generate your own GitHub repository from it. Note that a template copies the example site’s default branch (main), which can be ahead of the latest release; for a release-pinned start, use option 1.

1. Go to the repo of the Docsy example site.

2. Click the button Use this template and select the option Create a new repository from the dropdown.

3. Choose a name for your new repository (e.g. my-new-site) and type it in the Repository name field. You can also add an optional Description.

4. Click Create repository from template to create your new repository.

5. Make a local copy of your newly created GitHub repository by using git clone, giving your repo’s web URL as last parameter.

   git clone https://github.com/me-at-github/my-new-site.git
   

Preview your site

To build and preview your site locally, switch to the root of your cloned project, install the project dependencies, and serve the site:

cd my-new-site
npm run install:safe
npm run serve

Preview at http://localhost:1313/. Hugo reloads the preview as you edit. Press Ctrl + c to stop the server. If the build fails, see Troubleshooting.

What’s next?

• Add some basic configuration
• Edit existing content and add more pages
• Customize your site
• Publish your site.

3 - Create a new site: start a new site from scratch

Creating a site from scratch gives you Docsy’s look and feel, navigation, and other features, but you specify your own site structure. These instructions give you a minimum file structure only, so that you build and extend your actual site step by step.

TL;DR: Setup for the impatient expert

Run:

• CLI:
• Unix shell
• Windows command line

hugo new site my-new-site
cd  my-new-site
hugo mod init github.com/me/my-new-site
hugo mod get github.com/google/docsy/theme@v0.16.0
cat >> hugo.toml <<EOL
[module]
proxy = "direct"
[[module.imports]]
path = "github.com/google/docsy/theme"
EOL
npm install --save-exact --save-dev sass-embedded@1.102.0
npm pkg set scripts.hugo=hugo
hugo mod npm pack
npm install
npm run hugo -- server

hugo new site my-new-site
cd  my-new-site
hugo mod init github.com/me/my-new-site
hugo mod get github.com/google/docsy/theme@v0.16.0
(echo [module]^

proxy = "direct"^

[[module.imports]]^

path = "github.com/google/docsy/theme") >> hugo.toml
npm install --save-exact --save-dev sass-embedded@1.102.0
npm pkg set scripts.hugo=hugo
hugo mod npm pack
npm install
npm run hugo -- server

Preview at http://localhost:1313/.

Detailed Setup instructions

Create your new skeleton project

To create a new Hugo site project and then add the Docsy theme as a Hugo module, run the following commands from your project’s root directory.

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

This will create a minimal site structure, containing the folders archetypes, content, data, layouts, static, and themes and a configuration file (default: hugo.toml).

Import the Docsy theme module as a dependency of your site

Only sites that are Hugo Modules themselves can import other modules. To turn your site into a Hugo Module, run the following commands in your newly created site directory:

hugo mod init github.com/me/my-new-site

This creates a go.mod file for your site’s module definitions.

Next declare the Docsy theme module as a dependency for your site.

hugo mod get github.com/google/docsy/theme@v0.16.0

This command adds the docsy theme module to your definition file go.mod and records the module checksums in go.sum.

Add theme module configuration settings

Add the settings in the following snippet at the end of your site’s configuration file (default: hugo.toml) and save the file.

• Configuration file:
• hugo.toml
• hugo.yaml
• hugo.json

[module]
  proxy = "direct"
  # uncomment line below for temporary local development of module
  # replacements = "github.com/google/docsy/theme -> ../../docsy/theme"
  [module.hugoVersion]
    extended = true
    min = "0.160.1"
  [[module.imports]]
    path = "github.com/google/docsy/theme"
    disable = false

module:
  proxy: direct
  hugoVersion:
    extended: true
    min: 0.160.1
  imports:
    - path: github.com/google/docsy/theme
      disable: false

{
  "module": {
    "proxy": "direct",
    "hugoVersion": {
      "extended": true,
      "min": "0.160.1"
    },
    "imports": [
      {
        "path": "github.com/google/docsy/theme",
        "disable": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

You can find details of what these configuration settings do in the Hugo modules documentation. Depending on your environment you may need to tweak them slightly, for example by adding a proxy to use when downloading remote modules.

Install npm dependencies

Install the Dart Sass compiler at the version Docsy is tested with, and define an npm script for running Hugo (see Install Dart Sass). Docsy sources its Bootstrap and Font Awesome assets from npm: generate the theme’s npm-dependency workspace (see Hugo’s Node dependencies) and install it:

npm install --save-exact --save-dev sass-embedded@1.102.0
npm pkg set scripts.hugo=hugo
hugo mod npm pack
npm install

Re-run hugo mod npm pack whenever you update Docsy or otherwise edit package.json; Hugo warns when the dependency set drifts. For background, see Bootstrap and Font Awesome via npm in the 0.16.0 release notes.

Preview your site

To build and preview your site locally, run Hugo through the hugo npm script you defined, which puts the sass CLI on Hugo’s PATH:

npm run hugo -- server

By default, your site will be available at http://localhost:1313. For common issues, such as the build failing with a missing Bootstrap import, see Troubleshooting. If the build fails with missing-parameter errors, add the required defaults per Basic site configuration.

What’s next?

• Add some basic configuration
• Add content and customize your site
• Get some ideas from our Example Site and other Examples and templates.
• Publish your site.