gohugoio/hugo · error

expected template, but none provided

Error message

expected template, but none provided

What it means

`applyTemplateTransformers` (tpl/tplimpl/templatetransform.go:77) is the internal pass that rewrites a parsed Hugo template (partial return handling, defer nodes, lookups). It guards against being handed a nil `*TemplInfo`; a nil here means an upstream lookup or parse produced no template. This is an internal invariant error, not a user-facing template syntax error.

Source

Thrown at tpl/tplimpl/templatetransform.go:77

	lookupFn func(name string, in *TemplInfo) *TemplInfo,
) *templateTransformContext {
	return &templateTransformContext{
		t:                t,
		lookupFn:         lookupFn,
		store:            store,
		visited:          make(map[string]bool),
		templateNotFound: make(map[string]bool),
		deferNodes:       make(map[string]*parse.ListNode),
	}
}

func applyTemplateTransformers(
	t *TemplInfo,
	store *TemplateStore,
	lookupFn func(name string, in *TemplInfo) *TemplInfo,
) (*templateTransformContext, error) {
	if t == nil {
		return nil, errors.New("expected template, but none provided")
	}

	c := newTemplateTransformContext(t, store, lookupFn)
	c.t.ParseInfo = defaultParseInfo
	tree := getParseTree(t.Template)
	if tree == nil {
		panic(fmt.Errorf("template %s not parsed", t))
	}

	if err := c.applyTransformationsAndSetReturnWrapper(tree); err != nil {
		return c, fmt.Errorf("failed to transform template %q: %w", t.Name(), err)
	}

	return c, c.err
}

func getParseTree(templ tpl.Template) *parse.Tree {
	if text, ok := templ.(*texttemplate.Template); ok {

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. Upgrade to the latest Hugo release; if it persists, this is likely an internal bug.
2. Run `hugo --logLevel debug` to identify which template/layout triggers the transform and try removing or simplifying it to isolate the trigger.
3. Report the issue to gohugo.io/GitHub with the minimal reproducing layouts, since this error signals an internal invariant violation.
4. If embedding hugolib programmatically, ensure you never pass a nil template into the template store APIs.

{{/* never call template/partial helpers with an empty name */}}
{{ $name := .Params.layoutPartial }}
{{ if and $name (templates.Exists (printf "partials/%s" $name)) }}
  {{ partial $name . }}
{{ end }}

When it happens

Trigger: Hugo's template store invoking the transformer chain with a nil TemplInfo — e.g. a template that failed to parse or a lookup path that returned nil being passed into the transform stage. End users cannot trigger it directly through template functions.

Common situations: Almost always indicates a Hugo bug or a broken template store state — e.g. after a regression in the 0.146+ template store rewrite, an unusual layouts arrangement exposing an unhandled lookup path, or a custom fork/embedding of hugolib passing nil templates. Rarely seen in normal site builds.

Related errors

• template %s not parsed
• conf must be set
• error building site: %w
• npm pack: failed to marshal package.json with updated worksp
• failed to detect format from content

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/25b070309e42b5ec.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.