Shortcode templates

Shortcode templates


Create custom shortcodes to simplify and standardize content creation.

Introduction #

Hugo provides [embedded shortcodes] for many common tasks, but you’ll likely need to create your own for more specific needs. Some examples of custom shortcodes you might develop include:

  • Audio players
  • Video players
  • Image galleries
  • Diagrams
  • Maps
  • Tables
  • And many other custom elements

Directory structure #

Create shortcode templates within the layouts/shortcodes directory, either at its root or organized into subdirectories.

layouts/
└── shortcodes/
    ├── diagrams/
    │   ├── kroki.html
    │   └── plotly.html
    ├── media/
    │   ├── audio.html
    │   ├── gallery.html
    │   └── video.html
    ├── capture.html
    ├── column.html
    ├── include.html
    └── row.html

When calling a shortcode in a subdirectory, specify its path relative to the shortcode directory, excluding the file extension.

{{< media/audio path=/audio/podcast/episode-42.mp3 >}}

Lookup order #

Hugo selects shortcode templates based on the shortcode name, the current output format, and the current language. The examples below are sorted by specificity in descending order. The least specific path is at the bottom of the list.

Shortcode name Output format Language Template path
foo html en layouts/shortcodes/foo.en.html
foo html en layouts/shortcodes/foo.html.html
foo html en layouts/shortcodes/foo.html
foo html en layouts/shortcodes/foo.html.en.html
Shortcode name Output format Language Template path
foo json en layouts/shortcodes/foo.en.json
foo json en layouts/shortcodes/foo.json
foo json en layouts/shortcodes/foo.json.json
foo json en layouts/shortcodes/foo.json.en.json

Methods #

Use these methods in your shortcode templates. Refer to each methods’s documentation for details and examples.

Examples #

These examples range in complexity from simple to moderately advanced, with some simplified for clarity.

Insert year #

Create a shortcode to insert the current year:

layouts/shortcodes/year.html
{{- now.Format "2006" -}}

Then call the shortcode from within your markup:

content/example.md
This is {{< year >}}, and look at how far we've come.

This shortcode can be used inline or as a block on its own line. If a shortcode might be used inline, remove the surrounding [whitespace] by using [template action] delimiters with hyphens.

Insert image #

This example assumes the following content structure, where content/example/index.md is a [page bundle] containing one or more [page resources].

content/
├── example/
│   ├── a.jpg
│   └── index.md
└── _index.md

Create a shortcode to capture an image as a page resource, resize it to the given width, convert it to the WebP format, and add an alt attribute:

layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{- with .Page.Resources.Get (.Get "path") }}
  {{- with .Process (printf "resize %dx wepb" ($.Get "width")) }}
    <img src="{{ .RelPermalink }}" width="{{ .Width }}" height="{{ .Height }}" alt="{{ $.Get "alt" }}">
  {{- end }}
{{- end -}}

Then call the shortcode from within your markup:

content/example/index.md
{{< image path=a.jpg width=300 alt="A white kitten" >}}

The example above uses:

  • The [with] statement to rebind the [context] after each successful operation
  • The [Get] method to retrieve arguments by name
  • The $ to access the template context

Insert image with error handling #

The previous example, while functional, silently fails if the image is missing, and does not gracefully exit if a required argument is missing. We’ll add error handling to address these issues:

layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{ with .Get "path" }}
  {{- with $r := $.Page.Resources.Get ($.Get "path") }}
    {{- with $.Get "width" }}
      {{- with $r.Process (printf "resize %dx wepb" ($.Get "width" )) }}
        {{- $alt := or ($.Get "alt") "" }}
        <img src="{{ .RelPermalink }}" width="{{ .Width }}" height="{{ .Height }}" alt="{{ $alt }}">
      {{- end }}
    {{- else }}
      {{- errorf "The %q shortcode requires a 'width' argument: see %s" $.Name $.Position }}
    {{- end }}
  {{- else }}
    {{ warnf "The %q shortcode was unable to find %s: see %s" $.Name ($.Get "path") $.Position }}
  {{- end }}
{{- else }}
  {{ errorf "The %q shortcode requires a 'path' argument: see %s" .Name .Position }}
{{- end -}}

This template throws an error and gracefully fails the build if the author neglected to provide a path or width argument, and it emits a warning if it cannot find the image at the specified path. If the author does not provide an alt argument, the alt attribute is set to an empty string.

The [Name] and [Position] methods provide helpful context for errors and warnings. For example, a missing width argument causes the shortcode to throw this error:

ERROR The "image" shortcode requires a 'width' argument: see "/home/user/project/content/example/index.md:7:1"

Positional arguments #

Shortcode arguments can be [named or positional]. We used named arguments previously; let’s explore positional arguments. Here’s the named argument version of our example:

content/example/index.md
{{< image path=a.jpg width=300 alt="A white kitten" >}}

Here’s how to call it with positional arguments:

content/example/index.md
{{< image a.jpg 300 "A white kitten" >}}

Using the Get method with zero-indexed keys, we’ll initialize variables with descriptive names in our template:

layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{- $path := .Get 0 }}
{{- $width := .Get 1 }}
{{- $alt := .Get 2 }}

Named and positional arguments #

You can create a shortcode that will accept both named and positional arguments, but not at the same time. Use the [IsNamedParams] method to determine whether the shortcode call used named or positional arguments:

layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{- $path := cond (.IsNamedParams) (.Get "path") (.Get 0) }}
{{- $width := cond (.IsNamedParams) (.Get "width") (.Get 1) }}
{{- $alt := cond (.IsNamedParams) (.Get "alt") (.Get 2) }}

This example uses the cond alias for the [compare.Conditional] function to get the argument by name if IsNamedParams returns true, otherwise get the argument by position.

Argument collection #

Use the [Params] method to access the arguments as a collection.

When using named arguments, the Params method returns a map:

content/example/index.md
{{< image path=a.jpg width=300 alt="A white kitten" >}}
layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{- .Params.path }} → a.jpg
{{- .Params.width }} → 300
{{- .Params.alt }} → A white kitten

When using positional arguments, the Params method returns a slice:

content/example/index.md
{{< image a.jpg 300 "A white kitten" >}}
layouts/shortcodes/image.html
{{- index .Params 0 }} → a.jpg
{{- index .Params 1 }} → 300
{{- index .Params 1 }} → A white kitten

Combine the Params method with the [collections.IsSet] function to determine if a parameter is set, even if its value is falsy.

Inner content #

Extract the content enclosed within shortcode tags using the [Inner] method. This example demonstrates how to pass both content and a title to a shortcode. The shortcode then generates a div element containing an h2 element (displaying the title) and the provided content.

content/example.md
{{< contrived title="A Contrived Example" >}}
This is a **bold** word, and this is an _emphasized_ word.
{{< /contrived  >}}
layouts/shortcodes/contrived.html
<div class="contrived">
  <h2>{{ .Get "title" }}</h2>
  {{ .Inner | .Page.RenderString }}
</div>

The preceding example called the shortcode using [standard notation], requiring us to process the inner content with the [RenderString] method to convert the Markdown to HTML. This conversion is unnecessary when calling a shortcode using [Markdown notation].

Nesting #

The [Parent] method provides access to the parent shortcode context when the shortcode in question is called within the context of a parent shortcode. This provides an inheritance model.

The following example is contrived but demonstrates the concept. Assume you have a gallery shortcode that expects one named class argument:

layouts/shortcodes/gallery.html
<div class="{{ .Get "class" }}">
  {{ .Inner }}
</div>

You also have an img shortcode with a single named src argument that you want to call inside of gallery and other shortcodes, so that the parent defines the context of each img:

layouts/shortcodes/img.html
{{ $src := .Get "src" }}
{{ with .Parent }}
  <img src="{{ $src }}" class="{{ .Get "class" }}-image">
{{ else }}
  <img src="{{ $src }}">
{{ end }}

You can then call your shortcode in your content as follows:

content/example.md
{{< gallery class="content-gallery" >}}
  {{< img src="/images/one.jpg" >}}
  {{< img src="/images/two.jpg" >}}
{{< /gallery >}}
{{< img src="/images/three.jpg" >}}

This will output the following HTML. Note how the first two img shortcodes inherit the class value of content-gallery set with the call to the parent gallery, whereas the third img only uses src:

<div class="content-gallery">
    <img src="/images/one.jpg" class="content-gallery-image">
    <img src="/images/two.jpg" class="content-gallery-image">
</div>
<img src="/images/three.jpg">

Other examples #

For guidance, consider examining Hugo’s embedded shortcodes. The source code, available on [GitHub], can provide a useful model.

Detection #

The [HasShortcode] method allows you to check if a specific shortcode has been called on a page. For example, consider a custom audio shortcode:

content/example.md
{{< audio src=/audio/test.mp3 >}}

You can use the HasShortcode method in your base template to conditionally load CSS if the audio shortcode was used on the page:

layouts/_default/baseof.html
<head>
  ...
  {{ if .HasShortcode "audio" }}
    <link rel="stylesheet" src="/css/audio.css">
  {{ end }}
  ...
</head>