HugoDocumentation

hugo-theme-relearn — Hugo Documentation Template

By McShelby

Hugo Relearn is a Hugo theme for documentation sites, an enhanced fork of the Learn theme, offering responsive layout, multilingual support, and a rich set of shortcodes.

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Recorded 2026-10-02View source

What stands out

A quick read of the recorded project description.

Enhanced fork of the Learn theme, improving on its long-standing issues and keeping up with newer Hugo features

Rich built-in shortcodes: badges, buttons, notice blocks, cards, collapsible sections, tabs, tree lists, Mermaid, OpenAPI, and more

Three search forms: in-page, popup, and standalone search page, plus chapter and full-site printing

Broad multilingual coverage, including Simplified and Traditional Chinese, with RTL typesetting and cross-language search

Can be used offline with no external dependencies, and can be opened from the local file system via file://

MIT licensed; this version of the code can be used, modified, commercially used, and distributed for free

Template Details

Hugo Relearn is a documentation theme designed for Hugo, positioned as a replacement and improvement over the popular Learn theme. It addresses long-standing issues in the original theme and introduces newer Hugo features while maintaining compatibility with its predecessor as much as possible.

For content presentation, the theme supports CommonMark and extensions such as GitHub Flavored Markdown, and is compatible with Obsidian callouts. The built-in shortcode library covers badges, buttons, notice blocks, cards, collapsible sections, icons, file includes, mathematical formulas, Mermaid diagrams, OpenAPI rendering, page lists, page resource display, site parameter display, tabs, and tree lists. Links and images also offer controls for download, target window, lightbox, size, shadow, border, and alignment.

For site functionality, it provides chapter and full-site printing, three search forms (in-page, popup, and standalone search page), configurable top bar buttons and sidebar menus, hidden pages, taxonomies, versioning, and social media integration, and can output an SBOM. Visually, it supports brand image configuration, automatic light/dark mode switching with the system, multiple preset color schemes, user-selectable color variants, a built-in stylesheet generator, and customizable syntax highlighting.

Multilingual support covers Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese, with support for right-to-left typesetting and cross-language content search.

Regarding deployment and usage limitations, the theme can be used offline with no external dependencies, can be opened directly from the local file system via the file:// protocol, and can be served under a strict Content Security Policy; it also integrates with the VSCode Front Matter CMS extension. The theme is MIT licensed, with free use limited to this version of the code; third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons require separate license verification, and external services such as domains and hosting may incur additional costs.

HugoDocumentation

Is it right for your project?

Use Cases

Building structured documentation sites for software or products
Documentation projects requiring multiple languages, including RTL languages
Distributing offline documentation in no-network or local file system environments
Documentation that needs embedded Mermaid diagrams, mathematical formulas, or OpenAPI descriptions
Knowledge bases requiring versioned documentation, hidden pages, or taxonomy organization

Suitable For

Developers building documentation sites with Hugo
Teams needing multilingual documentation and right-to-left language support
Users who want to distribute documentation offline or open it directly locally
Writers who need to use shortcodes and Markdown extensions extensively in documentation

Getting started & customization

Use these recorded setup notes alongside the repository instructions for your chosen version.

1
The theme is based on Hugo, so a working Hugo environment is required first; see the official Quickstart documentation for specific steps
2
The MIT license covers only this version of the code; third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons must be verified under their respective licenses
3
External services such as domains, hosting, databases, payments, or AI may incur additional costs and are not included in the free scope

Read repository instructions

License & source material

Usage conditions & limitations

Free to use · keep license notice

This entry covers the free version under the MIT license in the public repository; the free scope is limited to this version of the code 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 of the 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

Demo images, fonts, icons, and other third-party assets must be verified under their respective licenses and cannot be judged solely by the code's MIT license.
External services such as domains, hosting, databases, payments, or AI may incur additional costs.

View Original Text Basis

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge
Original License Text

https://github.com/McShelby/hugo-theme-relearn/blob/main/LICENSE https://github.com/McShelby/hugo-theme-relearn/blob/main/README.md

Compiled by DeepSeek based on repository license and README ·2026-10-02. 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: Hugo Themes
Documentation and maintenance reference score: More documented · 91 / 100
Technologies: Hugo
Website type: Documentation

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: 2026-10-02
Screenshot last checked: 2026-10-02

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: 0fa57e7e95a44607090631cd40359ac56267982462178ae216286222f7ca5c79

2026-10-02T14:12:03.444Z

Source file / repository

# Hugo Relearn Theme

A theme for [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/) designed for documentation.

[★ What's new in the latest version ★](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/introduction/releasenotes)

![Image of the Relearn theme in light and dark mode on phone, tablet and desktop](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/images/hero.png)

## Overview

The Relearn theme is an enhanced fork of the popular [Learn theme](https://github.com/matcornic/hugo-theme-learn). It aims to address long-standing issues and incorporate the latest Hugo features while trying to maintain compatibility with its predecessor.

## Key Features

- **Versatile Usage**
  - [Responsive design for mobile devices](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sidebar/width)
  - [Looks nice on paper](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/outputformats) - if it has to
  - [Usable offline with no external dependencies](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/deployment#offline-usage)
  - [Usable from your local file system without a web server](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/deployment#file-system) via `file://` protocol
  - [Servable with a strict Content Security Policy](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/csp)
  - [Integration with the VSCode Front Matter CMS extension](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/introduction/tools#front-matter-cms) for on-premise CMS capabilities

- **Customizable Appearance**
  - [Flexible brand image configuration](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/logo#changing-the-logo)
  - [Automatic light/dark mode switching based on OS settings](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/colors#adjust-to-os-settings)
  - [Many pre-defined color variants](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/colors#shipped-variants)
  - [User-selectable variants](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/colors#multiple-variants)
  - [Built-in stylesheet generator](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/generator)
  - [Customizable syntax highlighting](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/branding/modules/#change-syntax-highlighting)

- **Advanced Functionality**
  - [Chapter and site-wide printing capabilities](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/outputformats#print-support)
  - [Versatile search options: in-page, popup, and dedicated search page](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sidebar/search)
  - [Customizable topbar buttons](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/customization/topbar)
  - [Configurable sidebar menus](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sidebar/menus)
  - [Support for hidden pages](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/content/hidden)
  - [Comprehensive taxonomy support](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/customization/taxonomy)
  - [Versioning support](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/versioning)
  - [Social media integration](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/meta#social-media-images)
  - [SBOM available](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/sbom)

- **Multilingual Support**
  - [Full right-to-left (RTL) language support](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/multilingual)
  - [Extensive list of supported languages](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sitemanagement/multilingual): Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
  - [Multilingual content search capabilities](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/sidebar/search#mixed-language-support)

- **Enhanced Markdown Features**
  - [CommonMark compliant](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/authoring/markdown)
  - [Support for Markdown extensions like GitHub Flavored Markdown](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/authoring/markdown#standard-and-extensions)
  - [Support for Obsidian callouts](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/authoring/markdown#obsidian-callouts)
  - [Advanced link manipulation like download and target](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/customization/linkeffects)
  - [Advanced image manipulation like lightbox, sizing, shadows, borders and alignment](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/configuration/customization/imageeffects)

- **Rich Shortcode Library**
  - [Marker badges](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/badge)
  - [Flexible buttons](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/button)
  - [Styled callouts](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/callout)
  - [Card-based content organization](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/cards)
  - [Expandable content areas](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/details)
  - [Font Awesome icon integration](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/icon)
  - [File inclusion capabilities](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/include)
  - [Math support for mathematical and chemical formulae](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/math)
  - [Mermaid diagram integration](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/mermaid)
  - [OpenAPI specification rendering](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/openapi)
  - [Page listings in various layouts](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/pages)
  - [Page bundle resource display](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/resources)
  - [Site configuration parameter display](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/siteparam)
  - [Tab-based content organization](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/tabs)
  - [Nicely formatted tree lists](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/shortcodes/tree)

## Getting Started

For a comprehensive guide on the theme's capabilities, please refer to the [official documentation](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/introduction/quickstart).

## Updates and Changes

Visit the [What's New](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/introduction/releasenotes) page for feature highlights or the [detailed changelog](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/introduction/changelog) for a complete list of updates.

## Contributing

We welcome contributions for bug fixes and new features. Please see the [contribution guidelines](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/development/contributing) before getting started.

If you want to go further - running the test suite or regenerating the documentation screenshots - the [Development](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/development) section explains the setup.

## Licensing

The Relearn theme is distributed under the [MIT License](https://github.com/McShelby/hugo-theme-relearn/blob/main/LICENSE).

## Credits

This theme is built on the shoulders of [giants](https://mcshelby.github.io/hugo-theme-relearn/more/credits).

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