Before we begin, make sure you have the following tools installed on your system.

Git

Hugo uses Git for module management. Install it via your system package manager:

• macOS: brew install git
• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install git
• Fedora: sudo dnf install git

Verify with:

git --version

mise — Dev Tool Manager

mise is a polyglot tool version manager that lets you pin exact tool versions per project. We use it to install Hugo, Go, and Dart Sass without polluting your global system.

Scaffold the project

Create a new Hugo project and enter its directory:

hugo new project mysite
cd mysite

This creates the standard Hugo directory structure:

mysite/
├── archetypes/    # Templates for new content
├── assets/        # CSS, JS, images processed by Hugo Pipes
├── content/       # Your Markdown content
├── data/          # Data files (JSON, TOML, YAML)
├── i18n/          # Translation files
├── layouts/       # HTML templates
├── static/        # Files copied as-is to the output
├── themes/        # Theme directory (if using submodules)
└── hugo.toml      # Site configuration

Initialize Git

git init

Set up mise

Create a mise.toml file in the project root to pin your tool versions:

Hugo supports themes to control the look and layout of your site. The recommended way to add a theme in modern Hugo is via Hugo Modules (powered by Go modules).

Initialize your project as a Go module

hugo mod init github.com/youruser/mysite

This creates a go.mod file in your project root.

Import a theme

Open hugo.toml and add a module import. We will use the popular Ananke theme:

baseURL = 'https://example.org/'
languageCode = 'en-us'
title = 'My Site'

[module]
  [[module.imports]]
    path = 'github.com/theNewDynamic/gohugo-theme-ananke/v2'

Download the theme module

hugo mod get -u

This fetches the theme and creates a go.sum file. Both go.mod and go.sum should be committed to version control.