blowfish

name	blowfish
description	Install, configure, and build sites with the Blowfish Hugo theme — setup methods, updates, configuration files, homepage layouts, front matter, shortcodes, customization, and theme architecture. Use when working on a Hugo site that uses (or wants to use) Blowfish, or when working on the theme itself.

Blowfish theme

Blowfish is a lightweight Hugo theme built with Tailwind CSS. Docs: https://blowfish.page/ · Repo: https://github.com/nunocoracao/blowfish

Requires Hugo extended edition, within the version range declared in the theme's config.toml under [module.hugoVersion] (check that file — the range is a rolling window that tracks recent Hugo releases).

Installing

Full walkthrough: https://blowfish.page/docs/installation/

1. Blowfish Tools CLI: npx blowfish-tools — interactive setup that scaffolds the site and config. npx blowfish-tools new <site> creates project + theme in one go.
2. Git submodule:

   git init   # if not already a repo
   git submodule add -b main https://github.com/nunocoracao/blowfish.git themes/blowfish
   

   Then set theme = "blowfish" in the site's config/_default/hugo.toml.
3. Hugo module: hugo mod init github.com/<user>/<repo> then in config/_default/module.toml:

   [[imports]]
   path = "github.com/nunocoracao/blowfish/v3"
   

4. Manual: download the latest release archive, extract to themes/blowfish/, set theme = "blowfish".

After installing (any method): delete the site's generated hugo.toml in the project root, and copy the theme's config/_default/*.toml files into the site's config/_default/ (don't overwrite module.toml if using Hugo modules). A ready-made zip of the config files: https://github.com/nunocoracao/blowfish/releases/latest/download/config-default.zip

Updating

• Git submodule: git submodule update --remote --merge
• Hugo module: hugo mod get -u (inspects module.toml + go.mod)
• Manual: download the latest release and replace themes/blowfish/ entirely (local edits inside the theme folder are lost — site-level overrides are safe).
• Upgrading v2 → v3: fully backwards compatible; all new features are opt-in and nothing was removed or renamed. Hugo-module users change the import path …/blowfish/v2 → …/blowfish/v3 in module.toml, then hugo mod get -u. Other methods need no changes. Details: https://blowfish.page/docs/installation/#upgrading-from-v2-to-v3

Configuration

All config lives in the site's config/_default/ (reference: https://blowfish.page/docs/configuration/):

• hugo.toml — core Hugo settings, theme/module import, taxonomies, related-content config.
• params.toml — theme behavior. Key areas: colorScheme; defaultAppearance/autoSwitchAppearance (dark mode); defaultBackgroundImage + backgroundCanvas (site-wide fixed backdrop); [header] layout (basic, fixed, fixed-fill, fixed-gradient, fixed-fill-blur, floating) and mobileMenuStyle (fullscreen/dropdown); [homepage] layout (page, profile, hero, card, background, landing, custom) + layoutSwitcher; [article], [list], [taxonomy], [term] display flags (hero styles, TOC, reading time/progress, breadcrumbs, cardView, featureImageHover, …); [footer]; search; analytics; comments; Firebase (views/likes).
• languages.<code>.toml — site title, author profile (name, image, headline, bio, links social icons). One file per language for multilingual sites.
• menus.<code>.toml — [[main]], [[subnavigation]], and [[footer]] entries (name, pageRef/url, weight, optional pre icon).
• markup.toml — Goldmark config; keep unsafe = true (the theme relies on HTML in Markdown).

Front matter overrides most section params per page. Reference table: https://blowfish.page/docs/front-matter/

Feature → docs map

Point users (and yourself) at the specific page:

• Getting started & colour schemes: https://blowfish.page/docs/getting-started/
• Homepage layouts (incl. landing hero with heroCaption/heroLead/heroButtons/heroImage front matter): https://blowfish.page/docs/homepage-layout/
• Front matter reference: https://blowfish.page/docs/front-matter/
• All 40+ shortcodes with examples: https://blowfish.page/docs/shortcodes/
• Content examples (article features in action): https://blowfish.page/docs/content-examples/
• Series of articles: https://blowfish.page/docs/series/
• Multi-author setup (data/authors/*.json + authors taxonomy): https://blowfish.page/docs/multi-author/
• Thumbnails & feature images: https://blowfish.page/docs/thumbnails/
• Partials (analytics, comments, extend-head/extend-footer hooks): https://blowfish.page/docs/partials/
• Advanced customisation (fonts, custom schemes, overrides, npm build): https://blowfish.page/docs/advanced-customisation/
• Firebase views/likes: https://blowfish.page/docs/firebase-views/
• Hosting & deployment (Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, …): https://blowfish.page/docs/hosting-deployment/

Architecture (how to find things)

Understanding the theme's structure makes searching much faster:

• Template resolution: Hugo prefers site files over theme files at the same path. layouts/_default/baseof.html is the page skeleton (skip link, <header> with the configured header layout, <main>, footer, search modal, background canvas). single.html = articles, list.html = section listings, terms.html = taxonomy index (e.g. /tags/), term.html = one term's articles. All taxonomies share the same two templates.
• Partial naming convention: layouts/partials/<area>/<variant>.html. Header layouts live in partials/header/ (all variants delegate the actual menu bar to header/basic.html; components like desktop-menu, mobile-menu, translations are in partials/header/components/). Hero styles in partials/hero/ (basic, big, background, thumbAndBackground). Homepage layouts in partials/home/. Article listing cards in partials/article-link/ (card, simple, card-related); taxonomy term links in partials/term-link/. partials/icon.html inlines SVGs from assets/icons/ by name.
• Param resolution pattern: templates resolve display flags as front matter → section params → default, e.g. .Params.showX | default (site.Params.article.showX | default false). Page scope is tracked via .Scratch.Set "scope" (single/list/terms/term) — some partials branch on it.
• Styling: Tailwind source is assets/css/main.css (plus assets/css/components/*), compiled to assets/css/compiled/main.css which is committed — after changing templates that use new utility classes, run npm run build and commit the compiled file. Colour schemes are CSS custom-property files in assets/css/schemes/<name>.css defining --color-neutral/primary/secondary-{50..900} as RGB triplets; Tailwind maps them via . Note: the palette has — etc. silently compile to nothing.

Working on the theme itself

• npm install then npm run example — live demo at http://localhost:1313.
• npm run build — recompile Tailwind into assets/css/compiled/main.css (commit it).
• npm run build-hugo — production build of the docs site.
• Conventions: 2-space indent, spaces inside template tags ({{ $x }}), extract repeated logic into partials, Gitmoji commit prefixes, no breaking changes (never rename partials or remove config options). See CLAUDE.md and CONTRIBUTING.md.
• When adding/renaming config options, shortcodes, or layouts: update the docs in exampleSite/content/docs/ (all languages) and this skill.

Troubleshooting

• Blank styling / missing classes → Hugo isn't the extended edition, or themesDir/module import is misconfigured.
• New config not applying → the file must be in the site's config/_default/, not inside the theme.
• Version warnings → keep Hugo within the [module.hugoVersion] range in the theme's config.toml.
• A Tailwind class "not working" in a custom override → the compiled CSS is generated from the theme's sources; site-level classes need the site's own CSS (e.g. assets/css/custom.css, loaded automatically) or the class must already exist in the theme's compiled output.
• Images not appearing as thumbnails → the image must be a page-bundle resource matching *feature*, *cover*, or *thumbnail*, or set featureimage in front matter.