# The public folder/ does not update

**URL:** <https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [April 2, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208 "2025-04-02T16:47:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hugoproton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@hugoproton](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/hugoproton)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/1 "2025-04-02T16:47:02Z")

</div>

Hello,

While developing a Hugo website WITHOUT a theme, I’m encountering various issues that I can’t resolve. Generally, the public folder isn’t updating properly.

I’ve uploaded the test site code to [GitHub](https://github.com/p-mathis/hugo-troubles)

#### blog1

**[GitHub link](https://github.com/p-mathis/hugo-troubles/tree/main/blog1)**

1. When I edit the layouts/blogs/single.html or layouts/blogs/list.html files, the changes aren’t always reflected in the rendering of the pages in the public folder.

2. public/ contains elements that had previously been deleted in content/ or layouts/

#### blog1-PublicDelete

**[GitHub link](https://github.com/p-mathis/hugo-troubles/tree/main/blog1_PublicDelete)**

- The `blog1` folder was copied and named `blog1-PublicDelete`.

- In an attempt to refresh the `public/` folder, it was deleted, and then the site was rebuilt (command: `hugo`).

- Most HTML or XML files in the `public/` folder no longer appear !

- And as a result, `127.0.0.1:1313/blogs` returns: Page Not Found.

The codes were tested on two different devices: Linux and Mac.

Hugo versions: v0.145.0 on both devices.

**Linux environment** :

```bash

hugo v0.145.0-666444f0a52132f9fec9f71cf25b441cc6a4f355+extended linux/amd64 BuildDate=2025-02-26T15:41:25Z VendorInfo=snap:0.145.0

GOOS="linux"

GOARCH="amd64"

GOVERSION="go1.24.0"

github.com/sass/libsass="3.6.6"

github.com/webmproject/libwebp="v1.3.2"

github.com/sass/dart-sass/protocol="3.1.0"

github.com/sass/dart-sass/compiler="1.85.1"

github.com/sass/dart-sass/implementation="1.85.1"

```

**Mac environment**

```bash

hugo v0.145.0+extended+withdeploy darwin/arm64 BuildDate=2025-02-26T15:41:25Z VendorInfo=brew

GOOS="darwin"

GOARCH="arm64"

GOVERSION="go1.24.0"

github.com/sass/libsass="3.6.6"

github.com/webmproject/libwebp="v1.3.2"

```

My questions:

1. Why isn’t the site refreshing, given that I’ve always had problems with various sites created with Hugo, with instant refreshes, even when clearing Hugo’s caches (hugo serve –ignoreCache) and those of browsers?

2. Why is it impossible to properly recover it by rebuilding the site after deleting public/?

3. What are my mistakes?

4. What are the solutions?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Sincerely.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/2 "2025-04-02T16:55:17Z")

</div>

```plaintext
mv content/index.md content/_index.md

```

Test again after making this change, and post again with any remaining issues.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hugoproton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@hugoproton](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/hugoproton)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/3 "2025-04-02T17:46:04Z")

</div>

Thank you for your reply.  
It works!  
Except for a problem displaying images, but I’ll fix that later.  
Do you have an explanation for why I need to have an \_index.md at the root and not an index.md?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hugoproton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@hugoproton](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/hugoproton)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/4 "2025-04-02T17:54:37Z")

</div>

Maybe it’s just a bundle and leaf thing.  
I thought the website’s homepage was leaf-style…  
Thanks again.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/5 "2025-04-02T20:54:14Z")

</div>

> [@hugoproton](#):
>
> Maybe it’s just a bundle and leaf thing.

That’s right:

- A directory with an `index.md` file is a leaf bundle and has no descendants.
- A directory with an `_index.md` file is a branch bundle and has zero or more descendants.

Related: [https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/13538](https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/13538)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/system/32/1_2.png) [@system](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-public-folder-does-not-update/54208/6 "2025-04-04T20:54:47Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 2 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.