gohugoio/hugo · error

failed to parse timeout: %s

Error message

failed to parse timeout: %s

What it means

During `Config.CompileConfig`, Hugo parses the `timeout` setting. A bare integer is treated as seconds (it appends "s"), otherwise the value must be a valid Go `time.ParseDuration` string like "30s" or "2m". Anything else fails compilation with this error.

Source

Thrown at config/allconfig/allconfig.go:279

	x.StaticDir6 = nil
	x.StaticDir7 = nil
	x.StaticDir8 = nil
	x.StaticDir9 = nil
	x.StaticDir10 = nil

	return &x
}

func (c *Config) CompileConfig(logger loggers.Logger) error {
	var transientErr error
	s := c.Timeout
	if _, err := strconv.Atoi(s); err == nil {
		// A number, assume seconds.
		s = s + "s"
	}
	timeout, err := time.ParseDuration(s)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse timeout: %s", err)
	}
	disabledKinds := make(map[string]bool)
	for _, kind := range c.DisableKinds {
		kind = strings.ToLower(kind)
		if newKind := kinds.IsDeprecatedAndReplacedWith(kind); newKind != "" {
			logger.Deprecatef(false, "Kind %q used in disableKinds is deprecated, use %q instead.", kind, newKind)
			// Legacy config.
			kind = newKind
		}
		if kinds.GetKindAny(kind) == "" {
			logger.Warnf("Unknown kind %q in disableKinds configuration.", kind)
			continue
		}
		disabledKinds[kind] = true
	}
	kindOutputFormats := make(map[string]output.Formats)
	isRssDisabled := disabledKinds["rss"]
	outputFormats := c.OutputFormats.Config

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. Use a Go duration string: `timeout = "60s"`, `"2m"`, `"1h"`.
2. Or use a plain integer, which Hugo interprets as seconds: `timeout = 120`.
3. Check theme/module configs too — the merged value may come from a dependency (`hugo config | grep -i timeout`).

Example fix

# before (hugo.toml)
timeout = "30 seconds"
# after
timeout = "30s"

if _, err := time.ParseDuration(timeoutStr); err != nil {
    if _, err2 := strconv.Atoi(timeoutStr); err2 != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("invalid timeout %q: use a Go duration like \"30s\"", timeoutStr)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A `timeout` value in site config that is neither an integer nor a valid duration string — e.g. `timeout = "30 seconds"`, `timeout = "1h30"`, or a float like `"2.5"` without a unit suffix.

Common situations: Users writing human-style durations ("1 minute"), copying values from other tools, or old configs using milliseconds-as-number assumptions; note plain numbers were interpreted as milliseconds before Hugo 0.86 and as seconds after.

Related errors

• errConfigNotSet
• failed to compile whitelist pattern %q: %w
• failed to load config: %v
• failed to init config: %w
• no filesystem provided

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/6577fc45d50834aa.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.