gohugoio/hugo · error

failed to load Git data: %w

Error message

failed to load Git data: %w

What it means

When `enableGitInfo` is active, Hugo attaches per-file Git metadata (last commit, author, date) to each page during page construction (`newPageFromMeta`). If `gitInfoForPage` fails — typically because the git log for the content file cannot be read or parsed — page creation aborts with this wrapped error.

Source

Thrown at hugolib/page__new.go:90

			ShortcodeInfoProvider:      page.NopPage,
			LanguageProvider:           s,
			RelatedDocsHandlerProvider: s,
			m:                          m,
			s:                          s,
		},
	}

	if ps.IsHome() && ps.PathInfo().IsLeafBundle() {
		msg := "Using %s in your content's root directory is usually incorrect for your home page. "
		msg += "You should use %s instead. If you don't rename this file, your home page will be "
		msg += "treated as a leaf bundle, meaning it won't be able to have any child pages or sections."
		ps.s.Log.Warnidf(constants.WarnHomePageIsLeafBundle, msg, ps.PathInfo().PathNoLeadingSlash(), strings.ReplaceAll(ps.PathInfo().PathNoLeadingSlash(), "index", "_index"))
	}

	if m.f != nil {
		gi, err := s.h.gitInfoForPage(ps)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load Git data: %w", err)
		}
		ps.gitInfo = gi
		owners, err := s.h.codeownersForPage(ps)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load CODEOWNERS: %w", err)
		}
		ps.codeowners = owners
	}

	ps.pageMenus = &pageMenus{p: ps}
	ps.PageMenusProvider = ps.pageMenus
	ps.GetPageProvider = pageSiteAdapter{s: s, p: ps}
	ps.GitInfoProvider = ps
	ps.TranslationsProvider = ps
	ps.ResourceDataProvider = newDataFunc(ps)
	ps.RawContentProvider = ps
	ps.ChildCareProvider = ps
	ps.TreeProvider = pageTree{p: ps}

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. In CI, fetch full history — e.g. GitHub Actions `actions/checkout` with `fetch-depth: 0` — and ensure `.git` is present in the build context.
2. Verify `git log -- <content-file>` works from the project root the build runs in.
3. If Git metadata isn't needed in that environment, disable it: remove `enableGitInfo = true` or drop the `--enableGitInfo` flag for that build.

Example fix

# before (.github/workflows/build.yml)
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
# after
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    fetch-depth: 0

# Before enabling enableGitInfo = true, verify the site is a real, non-shallow repo:
git -C ./site rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree
git -C ./site rev-parse --is-shallow-repository # must be false

if err := build(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to load Git data") {
        log.Println("disable enableGitInfo or fetch full git history (fetch-depth: 0 in CI)")
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Building with `enableGitInfo = true` (or `--enableGitInfo`) when the working directory is not a usable git repository for the content file: `git` history is unavailable for the file's path, the gitmap scan of `git log` fails, or the repo state is unreadable at build time.

Common situations: CI systems doing shallow clones (`fetch-depth: 1` in GitHub Actions) so history is incomplete or the `.git` dir is absent in the build container; content mounted from outside the repo; Docker builds that copy sources without `.git`; submodule or worktree setups where the content path isn't covered by the repo.

Related errors

• failed to clone %s: %v
• failed to map git repo for module %s: %v
• git clone %s: %w: %s
• no Dart Sass binary found in $PATH
• failed to fetch remote resource from '%s': %s

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/74c1c28316ea6932.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.