HTML templates and CSS total about 140 lines (including blank lines), with no external dependencies
HugoHTMLStarter
hugo-xmin — Hugo Starter Template
By yihui
hugo-xmin is an extremely minimal theme written by Yihui Xie for Hugo template beginners. HTML and CSS total about 140 lines, with no external dependencies, under the MIT license.
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Recorded 2026-10-02View source
What stands out
A quick read of the recorded project description.
Provides basic templates such as single, list, terms, and 404, plus header and footer partials
Includes empty head_custom.html and foot_custom.html files for custom extension
Uses the MIT license, permitting use, modification, commercial use, and distribution
Positioned by the author as an extremely minimal example for Hugo template beginners
Template Details
hugo-xmin is an extremely minimal theme aimed at Hugo template beginners. The author Yihui Xie's motivation was to provide a truly concise example so readers can understand how Hugo templates are organized. The repository README's count shows HTML templates and CSS total about 140 lines (including blank lines): layouts/single.html 12 lines, layouts/list.html 20 lines, layouts/terms.html 13 lines, layouts/404.html 5 lines, layouts/_partials/header.html 20 lines, layouts/_partials/footer.html 9 lines, static/css/style.css 51 lines, static/css/fonts.css 7 lines, plus two empty files head_custom.html and foot_custom.html for extension. The author explains that a small amount of CSS is kept for readability and notes that it is hard to find a framework with only about 50 lines of CSS.
The theme itself introduces no CSS framework or JavaScript dependencies, and its template structure is simple. It is suitable as a starting point for learning Hugo template syntax and directory conventions, and also for sites that need extremely minimal pages and are willing to add their own styles. Because the codebase is very small, it does not provide complex navigation, components, or theme configuration options; its functional scope is mainly basic page rendering.
Regarding licensing, the repository uses the MIT license, permitting free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution of this version of the code; when distributing copies or substantial portions of the code, the original author's copyright notice and the full MIT license notice must be retained. Third-party assets such as images, fonts, and icons in the demo site need to be checked separately under their respective licenses.
HugoHTMLStarter
Is it right for your project?
Use Cases
- Learning Hugo template syntax and directory structure
- As a starting point for an extremely minimal personal site or documentation page
- Writing your own styles without a CSS framework or JavaScript dependencies
- As a teaching or example repository demonstrating a minimally viable Hugo theme
Suitable For
- Beginners currently learning Hugo templates
- Developers who want to build styles themselves from a near-blank state
- Those who need a theme with no external dependencies and a very small codebase as a reference
Getting started & customization
Use these recorded setup notes alongside the repository instructions for your chosen version.
- 1
Hugo must be installed first, then the theme placed in the themes directory and enabled in the configuration following the usual Hugo theme approach
- 2
The repository README does not provide complete installation commands; specific steps should refer to the official Hugo documentation
- 3
Third-party assets such as images, fonts, and icons in the demo site need to be checked separately under their respective licenses
- 4
When distributing copies or substantial portions of the code, retain the original author's copyright notice and the full MIT license notice
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 this version of the code and does not mean external services or third-party assets are free.
Must comply with when using
- Free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution of this version of the code are permitted.
- 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 need to be checked 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 separate charges.
View Original Text Basis
https://github.com/yihui/hugo-xmin/blob/master/LICENSE.mdhttps://github.com/yihui/hugo-xmin/blob/master/README.mdPermission is hereby granted, free of charge
Original License Text
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 · 96 / 100
- Technologies
- Hugo · HTML
- Website type
- Starter
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
- 2026-06-08
- 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: 0244872441a6db7c3f3b6f9f0002fb2b0771d602f6a519a45ffbeda3094fea8d
2026-10-02T08:11:24.082Z
Source file / repository# HUGO XMIN
## _Keep it simple, but not simpler_
**XMin** is a Hugo theme written by [Yihui Xie](https://yihui.org) in about four hours: half an hour was spent on the Hugo templates, and 3.5 hours were spent on styling. The main motivation for writing this theme was to provide a really minimal example to beginners of Hugo templates. This XMin theme contains about 140 lines of code in total, including the code in HTML templates and CSS (also counting empty lines).
``` bash
find . -not -path '*/exampleSite/*' \( -name '*.html' -o -name '*.css' \) | xargs wc -l
```
```
12 ./layouts/single.html
20 ./layouts/list.html
13 ./layouts/terms.html
5 ./layouts/404.html
0 ./layouts/_partials/foot_custom.html
0 ./layouts/_partials/head_custom.html
9 ./layouts/_partials/footer.html
20 ./layouts/_partials/header.html
51 ./static/css/style.css
7 ./static/css/fonts.css
137 total
```
I can certainly further reduce the code, for example, by eliminating the CSS, but I believe a tiny bit of CSS can greatly improve readability. You cannot really find many CSS frameworks that only contain 50 lines of code.
[](https://xmin.yihui.org)
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