If you’re looking to build fast and efficient static websites, Hugo is a fantastic choice. It’s known for its speed and simplicity. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of installing Hugo on Windows using Chocolatey. Whether you’re a developer, a blogger, or just looking to create a personal site, this step-by-step guide will get you started in no time.

Step 1: Install Chocolatey

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that simplifies software installation. Before you can install Hugo, you’ll need to have Chocolatey installed on your system.

1.1 Open PowerShell as Administrator

To install Chocolatey, follow these steps:

• Press Win + X to open the Quick Link menu, then select Windows PowerShell (Admin).

1.2 Install Chocolatey

Once you have PowerShell open, copy and paste the following command to install Chocolatey:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

1.3 Verify Installation

After Chocolatey has been installed, close and reopen your PowerShell window, then type:

choco --version

If everything was successful, you’ll see the installed version of Chocolatey displayed on your screen.

Step 2: Install Hugo Using Chocolatey

With Chocolatey set up, installing Hugo becomes super easy.

2.1 Install Hugo

In the same PowerShell window, type the following command to install Hugo:

choco install hugo -confirm

Chocolatey will handle the rest and automatically install Hugo for you.

2.2 Verify Hugo Installation

Once Hugo has been installed, confirm it by running:

hugo version

This command will show the version of Hugo that has been installed, ensuring everything is set up correctly.

Step 3: Create a New Hugo Site

Now that Hugo is installed, let’s create your first Hugo site!

3.1 Create a Site

Navigate to the folder where you’d like to create your Hugo site. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and type the following command:

hugo new site my-site

This will create a new directory called my-site with the basic structure needed for a Hugo site.

3.2 Add a Theme

Hugo works with a wide range of themes, which can be found on the official Hugo themes website: Hugo Themes.

To add a theme to your site, navigate to the my-site folder:

cd my-site

Then, follow the theme’s installation instructions. For example, you can use Git to add a theme as a submodule:

git init
git submodule add https://github.com/some/theme.git themes/mytheme

(Replace the URL with the actual theme’s URL.)

3.3 Add Content

Once you’ve added a theme, it’s time to start adding content. Hugo uses markdown files for content management.

To create a new post, type:

hugo new posts/my-first-post.md

This will create a new markdown file under the content folder. You can edit this file to add your content.

Step 4: Build and Preview Your Site Locally

4.1 Build Your Site

To generate your static website, run:

hugo

Hugo will process your content and generate the static files in the public folder.

4.2 Preview Your Site Locally

To view your site locally, Hugo has a built-in server that makes it easy to preview changes.

To start the server, run:

hugo server

You can now open your browser and go to http://localhost:1313 to view your site. Any changes you make will automatically be reflected in the browser, thanks to Hugo’s live-reloading feature.

Step 5: Publish Your Site

Once you’re happy with how your site looks, you can publish it. There are several hosting options available for Hugo sites, including GitHub Pages, Netlify, and DigitalOcean. Choose the one that best fits your needs.

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve now installed Hugo on Windows using Chocolatey and created your first Hugo site. You can continue building and customizing your site, adding more content, themes, and configurations as needed.

Hugo is a powerful static site generator that makes it easy to create fast, high-quality websites. Whether you’re creating a personal blog, a portfolio, or a full-featured website, Hugo can help you build it quickly and efficiently.