Build options

Build options are stored in a reserved front matter object named build¹ with these defaults:

---
build:
  list: always
  publishResources: true
  render: always
---

+++
[build]
  list = 'always'
  publishResources = true
  render = 'always'
+++

{
   "build": {
      "list": "always",
      "publishResources": true,
      "render": "always"
   }
}

list

When to include the page within page collections. Specify one of:

• always

  Include the page in all page collections. For example, site.RegularPages, .Pages, etc. This is the default value.

• local

  Include the page in local page collections. For example, .RegularPages, .Pages, etc. Use this option to create fully navigable but headless content sections.

• never

  Do not include the page in any page collection.

publishResources

Applicable to page bundles, determines whether to publish the associated page resources. Specify one of:

• true

  Always publish resources. This is the default value.

• false

  Only publish a resource when invoking its Permalink, RelPermalink, or Publish method within a template.

render

When to render the page. Specify one of:

• always

  Always render the page to disk. This is the default value.

• link

  Do not render the page to disk, but assign Permalink and RelPermalink values.

• never

  Never render the page to disk, and exclude it from all page collections.

Example – headless page

Create a unpublished page whose content and resources can be included in other pages.

content/
├── headless/
│   ├── a.jpg
│   ├── b.jpg
│   └── index.md  <-- leaf bundle
└── _index.md     <-- home page

Set the build options in front matter:

---
build:
  list: never
  publishResources: false
  render: never
title: Headless page
---

+++
title = 'Headless page'
[build]
  list = 'never'
  publishResources = false
  render = 'never'
+++

{
   "build": {
      "list": "never",
      "publishResources": false,
      "render": "never"
   },
   "title": "Headless page"
}

To include the content and images on the home page:

{{ with .Site.GetPage "/headless" }}
  {{ .Content }}
  {{ range .Resources.ByType "image" }}
    <img src="{{ .RelPermalink }}" width="{{ .Width }}" height="{{ .Height }}" alt="">
  {{ end }}
{{ end }}

The published site will have this structure:

public/
├── headless/
│   ├── a.jpg
│   └── b.jpg
└── index.html

In the example above, note that:

1. Hugo did not publish an HTML file for the page.
2. Despite setting publishResources to false in front matter, Hugo published the page resources because we invoked the RelPermalink method on each resource. This is the expected behavior.

Example – headless section

Create a unpublished section whose content and resources can be included in other pages.

content/
├── headless/
│   ├── note-1/
│   │   ├── a.jpg
│   │   ├── b.jpg
│   │   └── index.md  <-- leaf bundle
│   ├── note-2/
│   │   ├── c.jpg
│   │   ├── d.jpg
│   │   └── index.md  <-- leaf bundle
│   └── _index.md     <-- branch bundle
└── _index.md         <-- home page

Set the build options in front matter, using the cascade keyword to “cascade” the values down to descendant pages.

---
cascade:
- build:
    list: local
    publishResources: false
    render: never
title: Headless section
---

+++
title = 'Headless section'
[[cascade]]
  [cascade.build]
    list = 'local'
    publishResources = false
    render = 'never'
+++

{
   "cascade": [
      {
         "build": {
            "list": "local",
            "publishResources": false,
            "render": "never"
         }
      }
   ],
   "title": "Headless section"
}

In the front matter above, note that we have set list to local to include the descendant pages in local page collections.

To include the content and images on the home page:

{{ with .Site.GetPage "/headless" }}
  {{ range .Pages }}
    {{ .Content }}
    {{ range .Resources.ByType "image" }}
      <img src="{{ .RelPermalink }}" width="{{ .Width }}" height="{{ .Height }}" alt="">
    {{ end }}
  {{ end }}
{{ end }}

The published site will have this structure:

public/
├── headless/
│   ├── note-1/
│   │   ├── a.jpg
│   │   └── b.jpg
│   └── note-2/
│       ├── c.jpg
│       └── d.jpg
└── index.html

In the example above, note that:

1. Hugo did not publish an HTML file for the page.
2. Despite setting publishResources to false in front matter, Hugo correctly published the page resources because we invoked the RelPermalink method on each resource. This is the expected behavior.

Example – list without publishing

Publish a section page without publishing the descendant pages. For example, to create a glossary:

content/
├── glossary/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── bar.md
│   ├── baz.md
│   └── foo.md
└── _index.md

Set the build options in front matter, using the cascade keyword to “cascade” the values down to descendant pages.

---
build:
  render: always
cascade:
- build:
    list: local
    publishResources: false
    render: never
title: Glossary
---

+++
title = 'Glossary'
[build]
  render = 'always'
[[cascade]]
  [cascade.build]
    list = 'local'
    publishResources = false
    render = 'never'
+++

{
   "build": {
      "render": "always"
   },
   "cascade": [
      {
         "build": {
            "list": "local",
            "publishResources": false,
            "render": "never"
         }
      }
   ],
   "title": "Glossary"
}

To render the glossary:

<dl>
  {{ range .Pages }}
    <dt>{{ .Title }}</dt>
    <dd>{{ .Content }}</dd>
  {{ end }}
</dl>

The published site will have this structure:

public/
├── glossary/
│   └── index.html
└── index.html

Example – publish without listing

Publish a section’s descendant pages without publishing the section page itself.

content/
├── books/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── book-1.md
│   └── book-2.md
└── _index.md

Set the build options in front matter:

---
build:
  list: never
  render: never
title: Books
---

+++
title = 'Books'
[build]
  list = 'never'
  render = 'never'
+++

{
   "build": {
      "list": "never",
      "render": "never"
   },
   "title": "Books"
}

The published site will have this structure:

public/
├── books/
│   ├── book-1/
│   │   └── index.html
│   └── book-2/
│       └── index.html
└── index.html

Example – conditionally hide section

Consider this example. A documentation site has a team of contributors with access to 20 custom shortcodes. Each shortcode takes several arguments, and requires documentation for the contributors to reference when using them.

Instead of external documentation for the shortcodes, include an “internal” section that is hidden when building the production site.

content/
├── internal/
│   ├── shortcodes/
│   │   ├── _index.md
│   │   ├── shortcode-1.md
│   │   └── shortcode-2.md
│   └── _index.md
├── reference/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── reference-1.md
│   └── reference-2.md
├── tutorials/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── tutorial-1.md
│   └── tutorial-2.md
└── _index.md

Set the build options in front matter, using the cascade keyword to “cascade” the values down to descendant pages, and use the target keyword to target the production environment.

cascade:
- _target:
    environment: production
  build:
    list: never
    render: never
title: Internal

title = 'Internal'
[[cascade]]
  [cascade._target]
    environment = 'production'
  [cascade.build]
    list = 'never'
    render = 'never'

{
   "cascade": [
      {
         "_target": {
            "environment": "production"
         },
         "build": {
            "list": "never",
            "render": "never"
         }
      }
   ],
   "title": "Internal"
}

The production site will have this structure:

public/
├── reference/
│   ├── reference-1/
│   │   └── index.html
│   ├── reference-2/
│   │   └── index.html
│   └── index.html
├── tutorials/
│   ├── tutorial-1/
│   │   └── index.html
│   ├── tutorial-2/
│   │   └── index.html
│   └── index.html
└── index.html