gohugoio/hugo · error

unsupported platform type: %q

Error message

unsupported platform type: %q

What it means

The `platform` option selects esbuild's target platform, which affects package.json main-field resolution, default output conventions, and how built-ins are treated. Hugo accepts only "" or "browser" (default), "node", and "neutral"; other values abort with this error.

Source

Thrown at internal/js/esbuild/options.go:380

	case "preserve":
		jsx = api.JSXPreserve
	case "automatic":
		jsx = api.JSXAutomatic
	default:
		err = fmt.Errorf("unsupported jsx type: %q", opts.JSX)
		return
	}

	var platform api.Platform
	switch opts.Platform {
	case "", "browser":
		platform = api.PlatformBrowser
	case "node":
		platform = api.PlatformNode
	case "neutral":
		platform = api.PlatformNeutral
	default:
		err = fmt.Errorf("unsupported platform type: %q", opts.Platform)
		return
	}

	var defines map[string]string
	if opts.Defines != nil {
		defines = hmaps.ToStringMapString(opts.Defines)
	}

	var drop api.Drop
	switch opts.Drop {
	case "":
	case "console":
		drop = api.DropConsole
	case "debugger":
		drop = api.DropDebugger
	default:
		err = fmt.Errorf("unsupported drop type: %q", opts.Drop)
	}

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

1. Use "browser", "node", or "neutral" as the platform value.
2. Remove the option to default to "browser", which is correct for almost all Hugo sites.
3. If targeting a runtime-agnostic library build, use "neutral".

Example fix

{{/* before */}}
{{ $js := resources.Get "main.js" | js.Build (dict "platform" "web") }}
{{/* after */}}
{{ $js := resources.Get "main.js" | js.Build (dict "platform" "browser") }}

validPlatforms := map[string]bool{"browser": true, "node": true, "neutral": true}
if opts.Platform != "" && !validPlatforms[opts.Platform] {
    return fmt.Errorf("invalid platform %q; must be browser, node, or neutral", opts.Platform)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `dict "platform" "web"`, "nodejs", "deno", or any string other than browser/node/neutral to js.Build/js.Batch options.

Common situations: Writing "web" out of habit from other tools; "nodejs" instead of "node"; casing mistakes like "Browser" won't fail (option keys are case-insensitive but values are not) — the value must be exact lowercase.

Related errors

• inject: absolute paths not supported, must be relative to /a
• invalid engine version: %q
• unsupported target: %v
• invalid loader: %q
• unsupported script output format: %q

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/f83215e3f424d7f2.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.