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Getting Started with Directus and Hugo

Published March 18th, 2024

Written By
Mark Munyaka
Mark Munyaka
Guest Author
TagsGuest AuthorGetting Started

Hugo is a popular Static Site Generator. In this tutorial, you will learn how to build a website using Directus as a Headless CMS. You will store, retrieve, and use global metadata such as the site title, create new pages dynamically based on Directus items, and build a blog.

Before You Start ​

You will need:

  • Install Go, Hugo, and a code editor for your computer.
  • A Directus project. Follow the Quickstart guide to create one.
  • Some knowledge of Go Templating language is helpful.

Creating a Hugo Project ​

Open your terminal and run the following command to create a new Hugo website:

bash
hugo new site my-website
hugo new site my-website

Inside my-website open the config.toml file and add the URL to your Directus project as a param. For example:

toml
[params]
    api_url = "https://directus.example.com"
[params]
    api_url = "https://directus.example.com"

Open my-website in your code editor.

Using Global Metadata And Settings ​

In your Directus project, navigate to Settings -> Data Model and create a new collection called global. Select 'Treat as a single object' under the Singleton option.

Create two text input fields - one with the key of title and the other with description.

Go to the Content module and select the Global collection. Enter information for the title and the description and hit Save.

Hugo global collection configuration

By default, new collections are not accessible to the public. Navigate to Settings -> Access Control -> Public and give Read access to the Global collection.

Inside my-website, open the layouts directory and create a _default directory. Add a baseof.html file. This will provide the base layout to be inherited by all other layout files.

html
<!doctype html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>
      {{ $global := getJSON (printf "%s/items/global" site.Params.api_url) }}
      {{ $global.data.title }} -
      {{ block "title" . }}
      {{ end }}
    </title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>{{ $global.data.title }}</h1>
    <p>{{ $global.data.description }}</p>
    {{ block "main" . }}
    {{ end }}
  </body>
</html>
<!doctype html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>
      {{ $global := getJSON (printf "%s/items/global" site.Params.api_url) }}
      {{ $global.data.title }} -
      {{ block "title" . }}
      {{ end }}
    </title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>{{ $global.data.title }}</h1>
    <p>{{ $global.data.description }}</p>
    {{ block "main" . }}
    {{ end }}
  </body>
</html>

The getJSON method is used to fetch the global collection from the Directus project. The data is accessed using the $global variable. The "main" and "title" blocks are placeholders that other layouts can use to only specify that part of the page.

Create a new file in the layouts directory named index.html.

html
{{ define "title" }}
  Home
{{ end }}
{{ define "title" }}
  Home
{{ end }}

Type hugo serve in your terminal and Hugo will build your site. Open your site at http://localhost:1313 in your browser. You should see data from your Directus Global collection on your page.

Creating Pages With Directus ​

Setting Up Directus ​

Create a new collection called pages - make the Primary ID Field a "Manually Entered String" called slug, which will correlate with the URL for the page. For example about will later correlate to the page localhost:1313/about.

Create a text input field called title and a WYSIWYG input field called content. In Access Control, give the Public role read access to the new collection. Create 3 items in the new collection - here's some sample data.

Creating Markdown Files in Hugo ​

Inside my-website create a new directory named prebuild. The prebuild directory will store to process data fetched from the Directus project and create markdown files. Create a prebuild/config.toml file:

toml
disableKinds = ["sitemap", "taxonomy", "term"]

[outputs.home]
  to = ["html"]

[params]
  api_url = "https://directus.example.com"
disableKinds = ["sitemap", "taxonomy", "term"]

[outputs.home]
  to = ["html"]

[params]
  api_url = "https://directus.example.com"

This ensures the prebuild directory outputs only the data fetched from the Directus project API.

Inside of prebuild, create a new directory named layouts and add a file called index.html. This template file will fetch API data from the Directus project's pages collection and create markdown files for each page.

html
{{ with resources.GetRemote (printf "%s/items/pages" site.Params.api_url) }}
    {{ $pages := unmarshal .Content }}
    {{ range $pages.data }}
        {{ $meta := dict "slug" .slug "title" .title }} 
        {{ $metaJson := jsonify $meta }}
        {{ $content := .content | safeHTML }}
        {{ $output := printf "%s\n%s" $metaJson $content }}
        {{ $filename := printf "content/%s.md" .slug }}
        {{ $resource := resources.FromString $filename $output }} 
        {{ $file := $resource.RelPermalink }} 
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}
{{ with resources.GetRemote (printf "%s/items/pages" site.Params.api_url) }}
    {{ $pages := unmarshal .Content }}
    {{ range $pages.data }}
        {{ $meta := dict "slug" .slug "title" .title }} 
        {{ $metaJson := jsonify $meta }}
        {{ $content := .content | safeHTML }}
        {{ $output := printf "%s\n%s" $metaJson $content }}
        {{ $filename := printf "content/%s.md" .slug }}
        {{ $resource := resources.FromString $filename $output }} 
        {{ $file := $resource.RelPermalink }} 
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}

The method resources.GetRemote (printf "%s/items/pages" site.Params.api_url) is used to fetch data from the pages collection in the Directus project.

The $meta variable stores a dictionary map of the slug and title fields for each page. These fields are then used as frontmatter in JSON format when the markdown file is generated.

Run hugo from the prebuild directory. This will generate a directory named prebuild/public/content containing all the pages from the Directus collection.

Mount the prebuild/public/content directory for Hugo to read the pages collection. Open up your Hugo site's config file config.toml and append the following code:

toml
[markup.goldmark.renderer]
  unsafe = true

[module]
  [[module.mounts]]
    source = "prebuild/public/content"
    target = "content"
[markup.goldmark.renderer]
  unsafe = true

[module]
  [[module.mounts]]
    source = "prebuild/public/content"
    target = "content"

Setting the unsafe boolean of markup.goldmark.renderer to true tells Hugo HTML is safe to render.

Add a file named single.html in the layouts/_default directory.

html
{{ define "title" }}
  {{ .Title }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
  <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>
  {{ .Content }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "title" }}
  {{ .Title }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
  <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>
  {{ .Content }}
{{ end }}

This code will make sure your templates for the pages are using the proper Front Matter keys.

Run hugo serve from the root of your main Hugo project directory. Visit http://localhost:1313/about, replacing about with any of your item slugs. The page should show the data in your Directus pages collection.

Creating Blog Posts With Directus ​

Create a new collection called authors with a single text input field called name. Create one or more authors.

Then, create a new collection called posts - make the Primary ID Field a "Manually Entered String" called slug, which will correlate with the URL for the page. For example hello-world will later correlate to the page http://localhost:1313/blog/hello-world.

Create the following fields in your posts data model:

  • a text input field called title
  • a WYSIWYG input field called content
  • an image relational field called image
  • a datetime selection field called publish_date - set the type to 'date'
  • a many-to-one relational field called author with the related collection set to authors.

In Access Control, give the Public role read access to the authors, posts, and directus_files collections.

Create 3 items in the posts collection - here's some sample data.

Configure Hugo For Fetching Posts ​

Update prebuild/layout/index.html so that it can fetch posts from Directus as well. Append the following:

html
{{ with resources.GetRemote (printf "%s/items/Posts?fields[]=*.*" site.Params.api_url) }}
    {{ $posts := unmarshal .Content }}
    {{ range $posts.data }}
        {{ $meta := dict "slug" .slug "title" .title "date" .publish_date "author" .author.name "image" .image.filename_disk }} 
        {{ $metaJson := jsonify $meta }}
        {{ $content := .content | safeHTML }}
        {{ $output := printf "%s\n%s" $metaJson $content }}
        {{ $filename := printf "content/blog/%s.md" .slug }}
        {{ $resource := resources.FromString $filename $output }} 
        {{ $file := $resource.RelPermalink }} 
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}
{{ with resources.GetRemote (printf "%s/items/Posts?fields[]=*.*" site.Params.api_url) }}
    {{ $posts := unmarshal .Content }}
    {{ range $posts.data }}
        {{ $meta := dict "slug" .slug "title" .title "date" .publish_date "author" .author.name "image" .image.filename_disk }} 
        {{ $metaJson := jsonify $meta }}
        {{ $content := .content | safeHTML }}
        {{ $output := printf "%s\n%s" $metaJson $content }}
        {{ $filename := printf "content/blog/%s.md" .slug }}
        {{ $resource := resources.FromString $filename $output }} 
        {{ $file := $resource.RelPermalink }} 
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}

The query %s/items/Posts?fields[]=*.* will retrieve the first 100 items (default). It will return all top-level fields and all second-level relational fields.

Run hugo from the prebuild directory. This will generate a subdirectory named blog in the prebuild/public/content directory containing all the posts from the Directus collection.

Create Blog Post Listing ​

Create a new directory called blog in the layouts directory, and inside create list.html with the following content:

html
{{ define "title" }}
  Blog
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
    <h2>Blog</h2>
    <ul>
    {{ range .Pages }}
        <li>
            <a href="{{ .Permalink }}"><h2>{{ .Title }}</h2></a>
            <span>{{ .Date.Format "January 2, 2006" }} &bull; {{ .Params.author }}</span>
        </li>
    {{ end }}
    </ul>
{{ end }}
{{ define "title" }}
  Blog
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
    <h2>Blog</h2>
    <ul>
    {{ range .Pages }}
        <li>
            <a href="{{ .Permalink }}"><h2>{{ .Title }}</h2></a>
            <span>{{ .Date.Format "January 2, 2006" }} &bull; {{ .Params.author }}</span>
        </li>
    {{ end }}
    </ul>
{{ end }}

This will display a list of all the blog posts. It includes the slug, title, publish_date, and name of the related author.

Visit http://localhost:1313/blog to view the blog post listing with the latest items first.

Blog post listing

Create Blog Post Pages ​

Create a layout for blog posts. Open the layouts directory and create a directory named blog. Inside blog add a file named single.html.

html
{{ define "title" }}
  {{ .Title }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
    <img src="{{ printf "%s/assets/%s?width=600" site.Params.api_url .Params.image }}">
    <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>
    {{ .Content }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "title" }}
  {{ .Title }}
{{ end }}
{{ define "main" }}
    <img src="{{ printf "%s/assets/%s?width=600" site.Params.api_url .Params.image }}">
    <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>
    {{ .Content }}
{{ end }}

Some key notes about the code snippet:

  • %s/assets/%s?width=600 is a query requesting the blog post's image.
  • The width attribute demonstrates Directus' built-in image transformations.

Run hugo serve and view any blog post page, for example, http://localhost:1313/why-steampunk-rabbits-are-the-future-of-work.

Blog post page

Add Navigation ​

While not strictly Directus-related, there are now several pages that aren't linked to each other. Update baseof.html the following code just after the opening <body> tag:

html
<nav>
    <a href="/">Home</a>
    <a href="/about">About</a>
    <a href="/conduct">Code of Conduct</a>
    <a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a>
    <a href="/blog">Blog</a>
</nav>
<nav>
    <a href="/">Home</a>
    <a href="/about">About</a>
    <a href="/conduct">Code of Conduct</a>
    <a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a>
    <a href="/blog">Blog</a>
</nav>

Summary ​

Through this guide, you have set up a Hugo project and configured it to query data from a Directus project. You have used a singleton collection for global metadata, dynamically created pages, as well as blog listing, and single post pages.

If you want to change what is user-accessible, consider setting up more restrictive roles and accessing only valid data at build time.

If you want to build more complex dynamic pages made of reusable components, check out our recipe for doing just this.

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