gohugoio/hugo · error

babel config %q not found

Error message

babel config %q not found

What it means

When the babel resource transformer resolves its config file, a user-specified config (the transformer's config option) that cannot be resolved to an existing file via BaseFs.ResolveJSConfigFile produces this error. Hugo only fails for explicitly specified configs; auto-detected babel.config.{js,mjs,cjs} that are absent are silently skipped.

Source

Thrown at resources/resource_transformers/babel/babel.go:148

	if t.options.Config != "" {
		configFile = t.options.Config
	} else {
		for _, name := range []string{"babel.config.js", "babel.config.mjs", "babel.config.cjs"} {
			configFile = t.rs.BaseFs.ResolveJSConfigFile(name)
			if configFile != "" {
				break
			}
		}
	}

	if configFile != "" {
		configFile = filepath.Clean(configFile)
		// We need an absolute filename to the config file.
		if !filepath.IsAbs(configFile) {
			configFile = t.rs.BaseFs.ResolveJSConfigFile(configFile)
			if configFile == "" && t.options.Config != "" {
				// Only fail if the user specified config file is not found.
				return fmt.Errorf("babel config %q not found", t.options.Config)
			}
		}
	}

	ctx.ReplaceOutPathExtension(".js")

	var cmdArgs []any

	if configFile != "" {
		infol.Logf("use config file %q", configFile)
		cmdArgs = []any{"--config-file", configFile}
	}

	if optArgs := t.options.toArgs(); len(optArgs) > 0 {
		cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, optArgs...)
	}
	cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, "--filename="+ctx.SourcePath)

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. Fix the path in the babel options to match the actual file, relative to the project root: {{ $js := $src | babel (dict "config" "babel.config.js") }}.
2. Place babel.config.js/.mjs/.cjs in the project root and drop the config option entirely — Hugo auto-detects those names.
3. If the config lives in a theme/module, ensure it's mounted so ResolveJSConfigFile can find it.

Example fix

<!-- before -->
{{ $js := $src | babel (dict "config" "babel.confg.js") }}
<!-- after -->
{{ $js := $src | babel }}  <!-- with babel.config.js in project root -->

# ensure config exists at project root before invoking
test -f babel.config.js || echo 'missing babel.config.js'

{{ with try ($js | babel (dict "config" "babel.config.js")) }}{{ with .Err }}{{ errorf "babel: %s" . }}{{ end }}{{ end }}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling babel with an options map like (dict "config" "myconfig.js") where that path doesn't exist in the project (or any mounted theme/module filesystem).

Common situations: Typo in the config filename; config file located outside the project root or not mounted via module mounts; renaming .babelrc to babel.config.js but pointing the option at the old name; running from a different working directory in CI.

Related errors

• failed to detect target data serialization format
• unsupported transpiler %q; valid values are %q or %q
• must not provide more arguments than resource object and opt
• 'paginate' configuration setting must be positive to paginat
• markup must not be set, use mediaType

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/9ca610dce89770d8.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.