gohugoio/hugo · error

invalid metadata source %q in imaging.meta.sources config; m

Error message

invalid metadata source %q in imaging.meta.sources config; must be one of %s

What it means

imaging.meta.sources controls which metadata blocks (EXIF, IPTC, XMP) Hugo decodes from images. Each entry is lowercased and checked against validMetaSources; an unknown source name is a config error since Hugo has no decoder for it.

Source

Thrown at resources/images/config.go:607

	if len(cfg.Meta.Fields) == 0 {
		// Default: include all fields except technical metadata.
		// Don't change this for no good reason. Please don't.
		cfg.Meta.Fields = []string{
			"! *{GPS,Exif,Exposure[MPB],Contrast,Resolution,Sharp,JPEG,Metering,Sensing,Saturation,ColorSpace,Flash,WhiteBalance}*",
		}
	}

	if len(cfg.Meta.Sources) == 0 {
		// Default to EXIF and IPTC (XMP is slower to decode).
		cfg.Meta.Sources = []string{"exif", "iptc"}
	} else {
		// Normalize to lowercase.
		for i, s := range cfg.Meta.Sources {
			cfg.Meta.Sources[i] = strings.ToLower(s)
			if !validMetaSources[cfg.Meta.Sources[i]] {
				keys := slices.Collect(maps.Keys(validMetaSources))
				slices.Sort(keys)
				return fmt.Errorf("invalid metadata source %q in imaging.meta.sources config; must be one of %s", s, keys)
			}
		}
	}

	return nil
}

type ExifConfig struct {
	// Regexp matching the Exif fields you want from the (massive) set of Exif info
	// available. As we cache this info to disk, this is for performance and
	// disk space reasons more than anything.
	// If you want it all, put ".*" in this config setting.
	// Note that if neither this or ExcludeFields is set, Hugo will return a small
	// default set.
	IncludeFields string

	// Regexp matching the Exif fields you want to exclude. This may be easier to use
	// than IncludeFields above, depending on what you want.

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. Correct the entry to one of the valid sources listed in the error message (e.g. exif, iptc, xmp).
2. Remove imaging.meta.sources entirely to get the default of exif + iptc.
3. Check the Hugo docs for imaging.meta.sources valid values for your Hugo version.

Example fix

# before (hugo.toml)
[imaging.meta]
sources = ["exif", "ipct"]
# after
[imaging.meta]
sources = ["exif", "iptc"]

valid := map[string]bool{"exif": true, "xmp": true, "iptc": true}
for _, s := range cfg.Imaging.Meta.Sources {
    if !valid[strings.ToLower(s)] {
        return fmt.Errorf("invalid imaging.meta.sources entry %q", s)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting imaging.meta.sources = ["exif", "xmp2"] or any entry not in the valid set (the error message lists the sorted valid keys) in site config; fires during config init.

Common situations: Typos like 'ipct' for 'iptc'; guessing source names ('metadata', 'jpeg'); using a value from a different tool's config; leftover entries after a Hugo version changed the supported set.

Related errors

• redirects must have either From or FromRe set
• failed to create config from result: %w
• failed to create config: %w
• failed to decode %q: %w
• language name cannot be empty

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/de177fb893a2ca82.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.