Minimal Hugo theme built with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI
HugoPortfolioBlog
salinger-theme — Hugo Portfolio Template
By jacksalici
Salinger is a minimal Hugo theme built with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI, aimed at personal blogs and portfolio sites, under the MIT license.
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Recorded 2026-10-01View source
What stands out
A quick read of the recorded project description.
Mobile-first responsive layout
Supports dark, light, and automatic color modes
Hamburger menu with customizable icons, supports Tweemoji
Supports Google Analytics and customizable meta information visibility
Includes an example-site in the repository for local preview
Template Details
Salinger is a Hugo theme for personal blogs and portfolios, built with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI. The overall style is clean and minimal, with a mobile-first design approach. The theme was originally developed for the author's personal website and later rewritten; the visual inspiration for its light-mode homepage comes from the Einaudi Italian edition cover of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.
The theme offers dark, light, and automatic color modes, and includes a hamburger menu with customizable icons; it supports Tweemoji, Google Analytics, and customizable visibility of meta information. An example-site is included in the repository for local preview of the theme.
For usage, the theme is added to a Hugo project as a git submodule and must be configured in hugo.toml, where some parameters are required; it also depends on npm to install TailwindCSS-related dependencies, so hugo, git, and npm environments are needed. The theme code is under the MIT license, allowing free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution, but third-party assets such as example images, fonts, and icons require separate license verification. The repository README mentions that during the v2 major version development, a rebase was done, making the commit history untidy; upgrading from an older version may be troublesome, and it is recommended to remove the submodule and re-add it.
HugoPortfolioBlog
Is it right for your project?
Use Cases
- Building a personal blog with a clean typographic style
- Creating a portfolio site to showcase personal work
- Hugo sites that need dark/light mode switching
- Personal websites primarily read on mobile devices
Suitable For
- Developers familiar with Hugo and willing to adjust the theme via configuration files
- Authors of personal sites needing a lightweight, minimal visual style
- Users who accept managing theme dependencies via git submodule and npm
Getting started & customization
Use these recorded setup notes alongside the repository instructions for your chosen version.
- 1
Requires hugo, git, and npm pre-installed
- 2
Add the theme to themes/salinger via git submodule add
- 3
Configure the theme in hugo.toml; some parameters are required; refer to the example configuration in example-site
- 4
Run npm install in both the theme directory and the project root, and run hugo mod npm pack
- 5
When upgrading from an older version, the README recommends removing the submodule and re-adding it
License & source material
Usage conditions & limitations
Free to use · keep license noticeThis entry covers the free version under the MIT license in the public repository; the free scope is the code of this version and does not imply that external services or third-party assets are free.
Must comply with when using
- Permits free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution of this version's code.
- When distributing copies or substantial portions of the code, retain the original author's copyright notice and the full MIT license notice.
- The code is provided as is; warranties and limitations of liability are governed by the original license and applicable law.
Additional costs & items to verify
- Using this theme requires hugo, git, and npm environments pre-installed; without these tools, installation and build cannot be completed.
- The theme must be added to a Hugo project as a git submodule, relying on the git submodule mechanism for installation and updates.
- Some configuration parameters in hugo.toml are required; incorrect configuration will prevent the theme from working properly.
- npm dependencies must be installed separately in the theme directory and the project root, and hugo mod npm pack must be run.
- Upgrading from an older version may be troublesome; the README recommends completely removing the submodule and re-adding it.
- Demo images, fonts, icons, and other third-party assets require license verification according to their respective licenses; they cannot be judged solely by the code's MIT license.
- External services such as domain, hosting, database, payment, or AI may incur additional charges.
View Original Text Basis
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge
Original License Text
Please, check to have installed a recent version of _hugo_, _git_, and _npm_.
Original README
Add the repository to your Hugo Project repository as a submodule:
Original README
Please note that **some parameters are mandatory** for the theme to work properly.
Original README
Install the dependencies in the theme folder and the main folder.
Original README
https://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme/blob/main/LICENSEhttps://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme/blob/main/readme.mdIf you came from the legacy version, updating it can be a bit annoying. I suggest [removing completely](https://gist.github.com/myusuf3/7f645819ded92bda6677) the submodule and adding it again.
Original README
Compiled by DeepSeek based on repository license and README ·2026-10-01. Results only cover the materials read; dependencies, images, fonts, and subsequent term changes are subject to their respective original texts.
Project checks & description sources
Template Information
- Source platforms
- GitHub
- Documentation and maintenance reference score
- More documented · 77 / 100
- Technologies
- Hugo
- Website type
- Portfolio · Blog
How this score is calculated
Our heuristic uses license records (up to 30), a demo link (12), a preview (10), stars (15), recorded maintenance (15), description completeness (8), feature records (5) and classification data (5). It is not a code, security or performance test, or a Google score. A link does not establish tested functionality.
What to verify for this project
- Repository update recorded
- 2024-03-24
- Screenshot last checked
- 2026-10-01
A demo link is listed. Check it with your own content and viewport sizes; its presence does not confirm that forms, authentication or payments work.
The catalog identifies Hugo as the primary stack. Check the actual dependency manifest and lockfile for versions and hosting requirements. These notes use recorded metadata, not a code audit or a deployment test.
Use a selection guide →How this description was prepared
AI-assisted description based on catalog records and repository material. Repository authors are not automatically the reviewers of this description.
Automatically checked against source and license rules; no manual editorial review.
Inspect the recorded source material
SHA-256: 9344973df244c67c7ac966d9e63a5be3504584e8525af81c0279705ca35af14c
2026-10-01T00:52:17.184Z
Source file / repository
 
[](https://salinger-hugo-theme.netlify.app)
# Salinger Theme 📻
> __Salinger Theme has been featured at [_HugoConf2023_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpT8JE5BbZI)!__ 🥳
___Clean and minimalistic Hugo theme built with DaisyUI and TailwindCSS.___
__Salinger__ is a _clean, minimalistic, mobile-first, blazing-fast, fancy_ and _lightweight_ theme for the [Hugo framework](https://gohugo.io).
Born as the theme for my website, recently it has been completely rebuilt using __Tailwind__ and __DaisyUI__. A demo can be seen on [the example site](https://salinger-hugo-theme.netlify.app).
Why this name? During the design of the light mode homepage, I was inspired by [the Italian edition cover by Einaudi](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=il+giovane+holden+by+j.d.+salinger+einaudi+1961&t=h_&ia=images&iax=images&iaf=color%3AWhite) of _The Catcher in The Rye_ by J.D. Salinger.
## Features 🗂️
- [x] TailwindCSS and DaisyUI 🌼 framework
- [x] Responsive and mobile-first 📲
- [x] Google Analytics 📈
- [x] Custom visibility of meta
- [x] __Dark, Auto__ and Light Mode 🌚
- [x] 2️⃣ hamburger Menu with custom icon
- [x] __Tweemoji__ Emoji support 🐧
- [x] SEO support (**100% score on PageSpeed**) 🚀
## Quick Start ⚠️
### Preview the _example site_
```shell
# prerequisites: git, hugo, and npm.
git clone https://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme.git salinger
cd salinger
npm install
cd example-site
hugo server -t ../..
```
A demo can also be seen on [the example site](https://salinger-hugo-theme.netlify.app).
### Install the theme
0. **Prerequisites**: Please, check to have installed a recent version of _hugo_, _git_, and _npm_.
1. Add the repository to your Hugo Project repository as a submodule:
```bash
git submodule add https://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme.git themes/salinger
```
2. Configure your `hugo.toml`. I suggest copying the demo file present in the __example site__ folder. Please note that **some parameters are mandatory** for the theme to work properly.
3. Install the dependencies in the theme folder and the main folder.
```bash
cd themes/salinger
npm install
cd ../..
hugo mod npm pack
npm install
```
4. You can build your site with `hugo server` and admire the result at `http://localhost:1313/`.
#### Update your installation
If you want to get the latest update of the `Salinger` theme please execute this command:
```bash
git submodule update --remote --merge
```
_Please note that during the development of the new major version (v2.x.x - Jul 23) a rebase has been made and the commit history is not so clean. If you came from the legacy version, updating it can be a bit annoying. I suggest [removing completely](https://gist.github.com/myusuf3/7f645819ded92bda6677) the submodule and adding it again._
## Usage 📐
Check out the [__wiki__](https://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme/wiki) and the _example site_.
## License 📜
The Salinger theme code is licensed under the [MIT license](https://github.com/jacksalici/salinger-theme/blob/master/LICENSE).
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