Content authoring guide

Write pages, links, code, diagrams, recordings and notebook output with Hugo-friendly Markdown.

This guide is the authoritative walkthrough for authors. It uses examples from the theme itself rather than an invented product or command-line interface.

Create and order pages#

Create a Markdown file below content/docs/. Use a leaf bundle when the page owns images or downloads:

text

content/docs/operations/
├── index.md
├── architecture.png
└── terminal.cast

The common front matter is deliberately small:

toml

+++
title = "Operations"
description = "How to operate the service."
weight = 30
icon = "book"
+++

weight controls sidebar, overview-card and previous/next order. A section’s child cards are generated from title, description, icon and weight.

Link within and between pages#

Hugo generates heading IDs from heading text. Link to a heading on the current page with a fragment:

[Jump to recordings](#terminal-recordings)

For another page, use the Markdown filename plus the heading fragment:

[Output formats](../configuration/site-wide.md#output-formats)
[Search configuration](../features/search.md#configuration)

The theme’s link render hook resolves Markdown paths through Hugo page objects. If the target page moves, the build fails instead of silently publishing a broken link. Use ordinary https:// links for external sites.

Code and terminal output#

Use fenced code for source that readers may copy. Add filename, line numbers or highlighted lines through fence attributes. Use the terminal shortcode for a captured command interaction:

local preview

$ hugo --minify
✓ Content validated
✓ Search index generated
⚠ Review two external links
Build completed in 284 ms

{{< terminal title="local preview" >}}
$ hugo --minify
✓ Content validated
✓ Search index generated
⚠ Review two external links
Build completed in 284 ms
{{< /terminal >}}

Language fences show syntax colours without a shortcode. This is the common form most authors need:

report.py

from pathlib import Path

pages = list(Path("content").rglob("*.md"))
print(f"{len(pages)} pages ready")

```python {filename="report.py"}
from pathlib import Path

pages = list(Path("content").rglob("*.md"))
print(f"{len(pages)} pages ready")
```

hugo.toml

[params]
  codeTheme = "adaptive"
  sidebarOpenDepth = 0

```toml {filename="hugo.toml"}
[params]
  codeTheme = "adaptive"
  sidebarOpenDepth = 0
```

For line numbers, highlighted lines, anchors and site-wide defaults, see the Code blocks feature guide.

Diagrams and mathematics#

Use a mermaid fence for a diagram and enable math = true when a page needs KaTeX. See Diagrams and Mathematics for live previews, raw Markdown, configuration, and colour-mode behaviour.

Terminal recordings#

Embed a .cast file with the asciinema shortcode. See Terminal recordings for recording, storage, player options, and a live preview.

Jupyter notebooks#

Embed a converted notebook with the notebook shortcode. See Jupyter notebooks for the conversion environment, source restrictions, lookup rules, and a live preview.