How do you detect changes in the themes folder to trigger a site build?

support
1

Issue
There appears to be no change detection in the themes folder, which means no site build.

Expected
I have created a second scss folder in themes to provide separation from my front-end framework. I’m referencing that scss folder correctly and expected Hugo to detect any changes after a save. There is no issue detecting when in the main assets folder.

Reproduce
Place a framework in the main assets folder. Place your custom styles in themes like the example below. Reference the themes folder in your styles.scss in the main assets folder.

-- assets
  -- framework
    -- scss
      -- styles.scss (reference to custom.scss below)
      ../../themes/themeName/assets/scss/custom

-- themes
  -- themeName
    -- assets
      -- scss
        -- custom.scss
2

It appears I was missing two things since I didn’t create this in a traditional sense, meaning, I did not use this command hugo new theme themeName.

  1. Theme folder must include a theme configuration file (theme.yaml) with the theme name.
  2. Config file must include a reference to the theme folder name (themeName).
-- themes
  -- themeName
    -- theme.yaml (missing this file)
    -- assets
      -- scss
        -- custom.scss

// Config.yaml
---
theme: themeName (missing the reference to this folder in config)
---

That being said, I’m curious if the way I’m using it is how themes were intended? I don’t plan on placing any other files in this theme folder besides styles. It might be my lack of understanding for the theme folder, but I don’t quite understand placing anything else in there besides files that would manipulate the look and feel of the site, aka a theme. Thoughts form others would great.

NOTE: Using the theme folder for scss files doesn’t rebuild consistently. There are times where it just doesn’t want to load even with these latest changes.

3

I don’t think this is necessary unless you are re-distributing the theme.

4

That is only required if you plan to share your theme on https://themes.gohugo.io/ by submitting a PR to https://github.com/gohugoio/hugoThemesSiteBuilder.

5

Thank you both for the reply. It sounds like I should continue to use the main assets folder and just create a theme folder there for the separation. Would you agree?