Your first prompt

Hugo Chat answers technical questions with working code. The quality of the answer is mostly a function of the prompt. Here's the pattern that works.

The shape of a good prompt

A useful Hugo prompt has three parts:

1. What you want — the outcome, not the implementation.
2. What you have — theme, Hugo version, anything custom.
3. Constraints — anything the answer must respect.

Examples

Vague

How do I add a dark mode toggle?

You'll get a generic answer that may or may not match your setup.

Better

Add a dark mode toggle to my Hugo site. I'm on the Ananke theme,
Hugo 0.130, and I'd like the toggle to live in the header next to
the menu. Use a CSS variable approach so existing styles still work.

You'll get a complete answer: the partial to add, where to include it, the JS to wire it up, and the CSS variables to define.

When you have a repo connected

Skip the "what you have" part — Hugo Chat can see it. Just mention the repo:

@your-name/your-blog add a dark mode toggle in the header

It will read your theme, find the right partial, and propose a diff.

Pasting errors

When debugging, paste the whole error block, not just the headline. Hugo errors include the file and line that matters; the headline alone usually isn't enough.

Hugo build is failing with this error — can you fix it?

ERROR render of "page" failed: "/site/themes/ananke/layouts/_default/single.html:14:6":
execute of template failed: template: _default/single.html:14:6: executing
"_default/single.html" at <partial "site-style.html" .>: error calling partial:
partial "site-style.html" not found

Iterating

If the first answer isn't quite right, reply with what's wrong rather than starting over. Hugo Chat will adjust without losing context.

Close, but the toggle button is too big on mobile. Make it 32px square
on screens under 640px wide.