Render some pages only in non production

[jswtch]

Hello, I have some .md pages that may occur at all levels in a content folder, alongside regular content.

I want these pages to act like regular pages only in “development,” but not in “production.”

I am reviewing these pages in the documentation but still can not find the answer.

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Build options

Configure Hugo

Prevent a page be rendered

Assuming I have a property like .Site.domain. Now assuming I have several pages, like: page1/index.md:--- domains: [ a.com, b.com ] --- # page1. page2/index.md:--- domains: [ a.com ] --- # page2. page3/index.md:--- domains: [ b.com ] --- # page3. If I call now hugo I want that if just all pages are rendered where .Site.domain=a.com and in another call .Site.domain=b.com. How to do that in the sitemap is clear to me, but how to fully prevent hugo from creating the related pageX/ind…

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Edit: I believe I could add specific front-matter to these pages to help (type: "development"), but this would mean adding a filter to many list functions across multiple templates.

I think I was hoping for an option like

_build:
  list: "development"
  render: "development"

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Solved

@jmooring

OK, for the record:

• I hate this
• I wouldn’t do it
• I would wait to see if #10936 is accepted and implemented.

Update: I marked this as the solution for three reasons.

1. It currently works.
2. It would transition easily to ideal solution if issue mentioned is resolved.
3. Avoids maintaining a separate structure. There was a core requirement to have the internal pages alongside existing content.

Thanks for all the responses!

[Sid]

I think, this particular section from the documentation can help you : Configure Hugo | Hugo (gohugo.io).

[jswtch]

Thanks, I understand I can have a custom config for staging or production. But I don’t understand how I would tell hugo not to bother with some pages in production only.

[jmooring]

Can you name the files to skip with a consistent pattern? For example:

content/something/foo.skip.md
                      ----

[Sid]

@jswtch

some .md pages that may occur at all levels in a content folder, alongside regular content

INMHO, this sounds quite vague.

Here is one approach:
Let’s say, you have 3 sections: sec1, sec2, sec3 and you have the following structure for config files:

├── config
│   ├── _default
│   │   ├── config.toml
│   ├── production
│   │   ├── config.toml
│   └── staging
│       ├── config.toml

1st you should make use of site.Params.mainSections in your template.
2nd specify different mainSections for each of the config.toml files.

For example, say you have the following in production/config.toml:

[params]
mainSections = ["sec1"]

Then Hugo should bother about sec1 in production environment.

[jswtch]

This is a viable option. Could you elaborate on how I tie this into the build?

[jmooring]

In site config:

[[cascade]]
[cascade._build]
list = 'never'
render = 'never'
[cascade._target]
environment = '{production}'
path = '**.skip.md'

You can target path, kind, lang, and environment… but not type. Hence the need for some consistent pattern in the path.

It would be convenient if we could target type:
https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/10936

[jswtch]

@Sid

INMHO, this sounds quite vague.

My content folder exists with many section and subsections - nested leaf and branch bundles. Most files I want in production. However, some files which exist in parallel to production content files I only want in development.

[jswtch]

@jmooring

[[cascade]]
[cascade._build]
list = 'never'
render = 'never'
[cascade._target]
environment = '{production}'
path = '**.skip.md'

It appears that _index.skip.md no longer functions as list page the same as _index.md. Is there a way I can return this functionality?

[jmooring]

Are you trying to skip the entire section?

The example above works with regular content pages, not leaf or branch bundles. You could consider including the string “_skip_” somewhere in the path other than the file name, but… yuck.

To do this right would need:
https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/10936

[jswtch]

Yes exactly. I want to skip some leaf bundles and branch bundles. However I still want the branches to act as expected.

├── section_a
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── _skip
│   │   ├── _index.skip.md
│   │   ├── skip_a
│   │   │   ├── index.skip.md
│   │   ├── skip_b
│   │   │   ├── index.skip.md
│   ├── content_a
│   │   ├── index.md
│   ├── content_b
│   │   ├── _index.md
│   │   ├── sub_b_one
│   │   │   ├── index.md
│   │   │   ├── index.skip.md
│   │   ├── sub_b_two
│   │   │   ├── index.md

[jswtch]

Yeah I think this is it! type = "internal" sounds great.

I am OK with using _skip_ as a folder name. But I still do not understand how I would edit this config. I apologize if this is obvious.

[[cascade]]
[cascade._build]
list = 'never'
render = 'never'
[cascade._target]
environment = '{production}'
path = '**.skip.md'

[jmooring]

To get an idea of scope:

• Approximately how many content pages?
• Approximately how many need to hidden in production?

[jswtch]

Napkin math:

Currently my site has only ~200 pages. It will likely never exceed 5,000. It appears I currently may require a .skip solution ~10%.

[jmooring]

OK, for the record:

• I hate this
• I wouldn’t do it
• I would wait to see if #10936 is accepted and implemented.

content/
├── posts/
│   ├── foo-skip/
│   │   ├── foo-1-skip.md
│   │   ├── foo-2.md
│   │   └── _index.md
│   ├── post-3-skip/
│   │   └── index.md
│   ├── post-1.md
│   └── post-2-skip.md
└── _index.md

[[cascade]]
[cascade._build]
list = 'never'
render = 'never'
[cascade._target]
environment = '{production}'
path = '{**-skip.md,**-skip/index.md,**-skip/_index.md}'

But I just had another idea that might work for you. Give me a few…

[jmooring]

An alternative… still not ideal. But maybe easier to keep track of the “internal” docs.

To build on @Sid’s suggestion, we can use an environment-specific configuration combined with a directory mount.

content structure

content/
├── posts/
│   ├── foo/
│   │   ├── foo-1.md
│   │   └── foo-2.md
│   ├── post-2/
│   │   └── index.md
│   ├── _index.md
│   └── post-1.md
└── _index.md

content-internal/
└── posts/
    ├── foo/
    │   └── _index.md
    ├── post-4/
    │   └── index.md
    └── post-3.md

site configuration

config/
├── _default/
│   └── config.toml
└── development/
    └── config.toml

config/development/config.toml

[[module.mounts]]
source = 'content'
target = 'content'

[[module.mounts]]
source = 'content-internal'
target = 'content'

The content-internal directory will be included when running hugo server or hugo -e development.

[lamyseba]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but could you not use the draft: true frontmatter property ?
Building with --buildDrafts option when in developpment ?

[jswtch]

Good point, yes, I can achieve a similar outcome by using drafts or date-hacking with --buildsFuture. However, I would then lose the ability to use drafts (or dates) for their intended purpose.

[jmooring]

Thinking more about this, targeting pages based on type in front matter is not a good idea, at least for your particular use case—it would preclude you from using type to control which layout is used.

The right way is to target based on a custom front matter parameter, which may not be possible—it seems like front matter parameters are not available until after we cascade front matter parameters down from site configuration (chicken/egg).

I will edit #10936, but don’t be surprised if this is closed as either not possible or too expensive (time and/or performance).

As for what’s possible today, mounting an additional content directory based on environment (as described above) seems like the cleanest approach.

[jswtch]

@jmooring

I will edit #10936, but don’t be surprised if this is closed as either not possible or too expensive (time and/or performance).

OK thanks,

Current tagged solution is working except for the case of having an internal page alongside a leaf (shown below).

content/
├── posts/
│   ├── foo/
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── notes-skip.md