path: root/docs/content/en/getting-started/configuration.md

---
title: Configure Hugo
linktitle: Configuration
description: How to configure your Hugo site.
date: 2013-07-01
publishdate: 2017-01-02
categories: [getting started,fundamentals]
keywords: [configuration,toml,yaml,json]
menu:
  docs:
    parent: "getting-started"
    weight: 60
weight: 60
sections_weight: 60
aliases: [/overview/source-directory/,/overview/configuration/]
toc: true
---

## Configuration File

Hugo uses the `config.toml`, `config.yaml`, or `config.json` (if found in the
site root) as the default site config file.

The user can choose to override that default with one or more site config files
using the command-line `--config` switch.

Examples:

```txt
hugo --config debugconfig.toml
hugo --config a.toml,b.toml,c.toml
```

{{% note %}}
Multiple site config files can be specified as a comma-separated string to the `--config` switch.
{{% /note %}}

{{< todo >}}TODO: distinct config.toml and others (the root object files){{< /todo >}}

## Configuration Directory

In addition to using a single site config file, one can use the `configDir` directory (default to `config/`) to maintain easier organization and environment specific settings.

- Each file represents a configuration root object, such as `params.toml` for `[Params]`, `menu(s).toml` for `[Menu]`, `languages.toml` for `[Languages]` etc...
- Each file's content must be top-level, for example:

{{< code-toggle file="config" >}}
[Params]
  foo = "bar"
{{< /code-toggle >}}

{{< code-toggle file="params" >}}
foo = "bar"
{{< /code-toggle >}}

- Each directory holds a group of files containing settings unique to an environment.
- Files can be localized to become language specific.


```txt
├── config
│   ├── _default
│   │   ├── config.toml
│   │   ├── languages.toml
│   │   ├── menus.en.toml
│   │   ├── menus.zh.toml
│   │   └── params.toml
│   ├── production
│   │   ├── config.toml
│   │   └── params.toml
│   └── staging
│       ├── config.toml
│       └── params.toml
```

Considering the structure above, when running `hugo --environment staging`, Hugo will use every setting from `config/_default` and merge `staging`'s on top of those.

Let's take an example to understand this better. Let's say you are using Google Analytics for your website. This requires you to specify `googleAnalytics = "G-XXXXXXXX"` in `config.toml`. Now consider the following scenario:
- You don't want the Analytics code to be loaded in development i.e. in your `localhost`
- You want to use separate googleAnalytics IDs for your production & staging environments (say):
  - `G-PPPPPPPP` for production
  - `G-SSSSSSSS` for staging

This is how you need to configure your `config.toml` files considering the above scenario:
1. In `_default/config.toml` you don't need to mention `googleAnalytics` parameter at all. This ensures that no Google Analytics code is loaded in your development server i.e. when you run `hugo serve`. This works since, by default Hugo sets `Environment=development` when you run `hugo serve` which uses the config files from `_default` folder
2. In `production/config.toml` you just need to have one line:

    ```googleAnalytics = "G-PPPPPPPP"```

    You don't need to mention all other parameters like `title`, `baseURL`, `theme` etc. again in this config file. You need to mention only those parameters which are different or new for the production environment. This is due to the fact that Hugo is going to __merge__ this on top of `_default/config.toml`. Now when you run `hugo` (build command), by default hugo sets `Environment=production`, so the `G-PPPPPPPP` analytics code will be there in your production website
3. Similarly in `staging/config.toml` you just need to have one line:

    ```googleAnalytics = "G-SSSSSSSS"```

    Now you need to tell Hugo that you are using the staging environment. So your build command should be `hugo --environment staging` which will load the `G-SSSSSSSS` analytics code in your staging website

{{% note %}}
Default environments are __development__ with `hugo server` and __production__ with `hugo`.
{{%/ note %}}

## Merge Configuration from Themes

The configuration value for `_merge` can be one of:

none
: No merge.

shallow
: Only add values for new keys.

deep
: Add values for new keys, merge existing.

Note that you don't need to be so verbose as in the default setup below; a `_merge` value higher up will be inherited if not set.

{{< code-toggle config="mergeStrategy" skipHeader=true />}}

## All Configuration Settings

The following is the full list of Hugo-defined variables with their default
value in parentheses. Users may choose to override those values in their site
config file(s).

### archetypeDir

**Default value:** "archetypes"

The directory where Hugo finds archetype files (content templates). {{% module-mounts-note %}}

### assetDir

**Default value:** "assets"

The directory where Hugo finds asset files used in [Hugo Pipes](/hugo-pipes/). {{% module-mounts-note %}}

### baseURL

Hostname (and path) to the root, e.g. https://bep.is/

### build

See [Configure Build](#configure-build)

### buildDrafts (false)

**Default value:** false

Include drafts when building.

### buildExpired

**Default value:** false

Include content already expired.

### buildFuture

**Default value:** false

Include content with publishdate in the future.

### caches

See [Configure File Caches](#configure-file-caches)

### cascade

Pass down default configuration values (front matter) to pages in the content tree. The options in site config is the same as in page front matter, see [Front Matter Cascade](/content-management/front-matter#front-matter-cascade).

### canonifyURLs

**Default value:** false

Enable to turn relative URLs into absolute.

### cleanDestinationDir

**Default value:** false

When building, removes files from destination not found in static directories.

### contentDir

**Default value:** "content"

The directory from where Hugo reads content files. {{% module-mounts-note %}}

### copyright

**Default value:** ""

Copyright notice for your site, typically displayed in the footer.

### dataDir

**Default value:** "data"

The directory from where Hugo reads data files. {{% module-mounts-note %}}

### defaultContentLanguage

**Default value:** "en"

Content without language indicator will default to this language.

### defaultContentLanguageInSubdir

**Default value:**  false

Render the default content language in subdir, e.g. `content/en/`. The site root `/` will then redirect to `/en/`.

### disableAliases

**Default value:**  false

Will disable generation of alias redirects. Note that even if `disableAliases` is set, the aliases themselves are preserved on the page. The motivation with this is to be able to generate 301 redirects in an `.htaccess`, a Netlify `_redirects` file or similar using a custom output format.

### disableHugoGeneratorInject

**Default value:**  false

Hugo will, by default, inject a generator meta tag in the HTML head on the _home page only_. You can turn it off, but we would really appreciate if you don't, as this is a good way to watch Hugo's popularity on the rise.

### disableKinds

**Default value:**  []

Enable disabling of all pages of the specified *Kinds*. Allowed values in this list: `"page"`, `"home"`, `"section"`, `"taxonomy"`, `"term"`, `"RSS"`, `"sitemap"`, `"robotsTXT"`, `"404"`.

### disableLiveReload

**Default value:**  false

Disable automatic live reloading of browser window.

### disablePathToLower

**Default value:**  false

Do not convert the url/path to lowercase.

### enableEmoji

**Default value:**  false

Enable Emoji emoticons support for page content; see the [Emoji Cheat Sheet](https://www.webpagefx.com/tools/emoji-cheat-sheet/).

### enableGitInfo

**Default value:**  false

Enable `.GitInfo` object for each page (if the Hugo site is versioned by Git). This will then update the `Lastmod` parameter for each page using the last git commit date for that content file.

### enableInlineShortcodes

**Default value:**  false

Enable inline shortcode support. See [Inline Shortcodes](/templates/shortcode-templates/#inline-shortcodes).

### enableMissingTranslationPlaceholders

**Default value:**  false

Show a placeholder instead of the default value or an empty string if a translation is missing.

### enableRobotsTXT

**Default value:**  false

Enable generation of `robots.txt` file.

### frontmatter

See [Front matter Configuration](#configure-front-matter).

### googleAnalytics

**Default value:**  ""

Google Analytics tracking ID.

### hasCJKLanguage

**Default value:** false

If true, auto-detect Chinese/Japanese/Korean Languages in the content. This will make `.Summary` and `.WordCount` behave correctly for CJK languages.

### imaging

See [Image Processing Config](/content-management/image-processing/#imaging-configuration).

### languageCode

**Default value:**  ""

A language tag as defined by [RFC 5646](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5646). This value is used to populate:

- The `<language>` element in the internal [RSS template](https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/blob/master/tpl/tplimpl/embedded/templates/_default/rss.xml)
- The `lang` attribute of the `<html>` element in the internal [alias template](https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/blob/master/tpl/tplimpl/embedded/templates/alias.html)

### languages

See [Configure Languages](/content-management/multilingual/#configure-languages).

### disableLanguages

See [Disable a Language](/content-management/multilingual/#disable-a-language)

### markup

See [Configure Markup](/getting-started/configuration-markup).

### mediaTypes

See [Configure Media Types](/templates/output-formats/#media-types).

### menus

See [Add Non-content Entries to a Menu](/content-management/menus/#add-non-content-entries-to-a-menu).

### minify

See [Configure Minify](#configure-minify)

### module

Module config see [Module Config](/hugo-modules/configuration/).

### newContentEditor

**Default value:** ""

The editor to use when creating new content.

### noChmod

**Default value:** false

Don't sync permission mode of files.

### noTimes

**Default value:** false

Don't sync modification time of files.

### outputFormats

See [Configure Output Formats](#configure-additional-output-formats).

### paginate

**Default value:** 10

Default number of elements per page in [pagination](/templates/pagination/).

### paginatePath

**Default value:** "page"

The path element used during pagination (`https://example.com/page/2`).

### permalinks

See [Content Management](/content-management/urls/#permalinks).

### pluralizeListTitles

**Default value:** true

Pluralize titles in lists.

### publishDir

**Default value:** "public"

The directory to where Hugo will write the final static site (the HTML files etc.).

### related

: See [Related Content](/content-management/related/#configure-related-content).

### relativeURLs

**Default value:** false

Enable this to make all relative URLs relative to content root. Note that this does not affect absolute URLs.

### refLinksErrorLevel

**Default value:** "ERROR"

When using `ref` or `relref` to resolve page links and a link cannot be resolved, it will be logged with this log level. Valid values are `ERROR` (default) or `WARNING`. Any `ERROR` will fail the build (`exit -1`).

### refLinksNotFoundURL

URL to be used as a placeholder when a page reference cannot be found in `ref` or `relref`. Is used as-is.

### removePathAccents

**Default value:** false

Removes [non-spacing marks](https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/category/Mn) from [composite characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precomposed_character) in content paths.

```text
content/post/hügó.md --> https://example.org/post/hugo/
```

### rssLimit

**Default value:** -1 (unlimited)

Maximum number of items in the RSS feed.

### sectionPagesMenu

See ["Section Menu for Lazy Bloggers"](/templates/menu-templates/#section-menu-for-lazy-bloggers).

### security

See [Security Policy](/about/security-model/#security-policy)

### sitemap

Default [sitemap configuration](/templates/sitemap-template/#configuration).

### summaryLength

**Default value:** 70

The length of text in words to show in a [`.Summary`](/content-management/summaries/#automatic-summary-splitting).

### taxonomies

See [Configure Taxonomies](/content-management/taxonomies#configure-taxonomies).

### theme

: See [Module Config](/hugo-modules/configuration/#module-config-imports) for how to import a theme.

### themesDir

**Default value:**  "themes"

The directory where Hugo reads the themes from.

### timeout

**Default value:** "30s"

Timeout for generating page contents, specified as a [duration](https://pkg.go.dev/time#Duration) or in milliseconds. *Note:*&nbsp;this is used to bail out of recursive content generation. You might need to raise this limit if your pages are slow to generate (e.g., because they require large image processing or depend on remote contents).

### timeZone

The time zone (or location), e.g. `Europe/Oslo`,  used to parse front matter dates without such information and in the [`time` function](/functions/time/). The list of valid values may be system dependent, but should include `UTC`, `Local`, and any location in the [IANA Time Zone database](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones).

### title

Site title.

### titleCaseStyle

**Default value:**  "AP"

See [Configure Title Case](#configure-title-case)

### uglyURLs

**Default value:** false

When enabled, creates URL of the form `/filename.html` instead of `/filename/`.

#