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AGENTS.md

This file provides guidance to AI coding agents when working with code in this repository.

Project Overview

Hextra is a modern, responsive Hugo theme designed for creating documentation websites, technical blogs, and static sites. Built with Tailwind CSS, it offers features like full-text search, dark mode, multi-language support, and extensive customization options.

Development Commands

Initial Setup

When working in a new worktree or fresh clone without node_modules, run npm install first to install dependencies:

npm install

Development Server

# Start development server with theme reloading (recommended for theme development)
npm run dev:theme

Building

# Build the example site
npm run build

# Build CSS assets only
npm run build:css

Architecture Overview

Hugo Theme Structure

  • Base Layout: layouts/baseof.html wraps all pages
  • Specialized Layouts: layouts/docs/, layouts/blog/, layouts/hextra-home.html
  • Partials: Reusable components in layouts/_partials/
    • Core UI: navbar.html, sidebar.html, footer.html, breadcrumb.html, toc.html
    • Utilities: layouts/_partials/utils/ for helper functions
    • Custom overrides: layouts/_partials/custom/ for user customizations
  • Shortcodes: Custom Markdown extensions in layouts/_shortcodes/
  • Render Hooks: Custom Markdown rendering in layouts/_markup/ for codeblocks, headings, images, and links

Asset Organization

assets/
├── css/
│   ├── styles.css              # Main stylesheet (Tailwind entry point)
│   ├── compiled/main.css       # Built CSS output (generated)
│   ├── components/             # Component-specific styles
│   ├── chroma/                 # Syntax highlighting themes
│   └── custom.css              # User customization entry point
└── js/
    ├── core/                   # Core JS components
    └── flexsearch.js           # Search functionality

Key Components

  • Search: FlexSearch-powered full-text search (assets/js/flexsearch.js)
  • Navigation: Responsive navbar and auto-generated sidebar
  • Theme Toggle: Dark/light mode switching
  • Internationalization: 20+ language support in i18n/

Content Features

  • Shortcodes: callout, card, cards, tabs, tab, details, steps, filetree, jupyter, badge, icon, pdf, include, asciinema, term
  • Code Features: Syntax highlighting (Chroma), copy buttons, line numbers via render hooks
  • SEO: Open Graph, Twitter Cards, structured data
  • Performance: Minimal JavaScript, optimized CSS with Tailwind

Development Workflow

Example Site Development

The docs/ directory serves as both documentation and testing ground:

  • Test new features here before releasing
  • Configuration examples in docs/hugo.yaml showing multi-language setup
  • Content examples demonstrate all theme capabilities
  • Run from docs with: hugo server --themesDir=../..

CSS Development Workflow

  • Source: assets/css/styles.css (main stylesheet)
  • Build process: Tailwind CSS → PostCSS → assets/css/compiled/main.css
  • Component styles organized in assets/css/components/
  • Chroma syntax highlighting themes in assets/css/chroma/
  • CSS compilation requires Node.js dependencies (PostCSS, Tailwind CSS v4+)

Rebuilding CSS after template changes

Tailwind CSS relies on docs/hugo_stats.json to know which HTML tags, classes, and IDs are actually used in the built site, so it can tree-shake unused styles. When you modify layouts, partials, or shortcodes you must regenerate hugo_stats.json first, then rebuild the CSS:

  1. Generate docs/hugo_stats.json — Run Hugo with the dev.toml config (which sets build.buildStats.enable = true):

    # Using npm (starts a dev server that writes hugo_stats.json on every rebuild):
npm run dev:theme

# Or a one-shot build using the raw Hugo command:
hugo --config=hugo.yaml,../dev.toml --themesDir=../.. --source=docs

  2. Build the CSS — With an up-to-date hugo_stats.json in place, compile the stylesheet:

    npm run build:css

Why two steps? dev.toml mounts docs/hugo_stats.json into the Hugo asset pipeline (assets/notwatching/hugo_stats.json) and configures a cache-buster so that changes to the stats file trigger a CSS recompile during dev:theme. When running outside the dev server you need to perform these steps manually in order.

Customization Points

  • Custom partials: layouts/_partials/custom/
  • Custom CSS: assets/css/custom.css
  • Site-specific overrides: Copy any layout to your site's layouts/ directory

Configuration & Requirements

Theme Requirements

  • Hugo minimum version: 0.146.0 (extended version required - see theme.toml)
  • Go 1.20+ (as specified in go.mod)
  • Node.js for CSS compilation (PostCSS, Tailwind CSS v4+)

Key Configuration Files

  • docs/hugo.yaml - Example Hugo configuration with multi-language setup
  • postcss.config.mjs - PostCSS configuration for CSS processing
  • package.json - Node.js dependencies and build scripts

Development Environment

  • Default Hugo development server: Port 1313
  • Development server runs with --disableFastRender -D for better development experience
  • Theme development uses --logLevel=debug for detailed logging

Multi-language Support

  • Configure languages in hugo.yaml (supports 20+ languages including RTL)
  • Translation files in i18n/ directory (e.g., en.yaml, fa.yaml, ja.yaml, zh-cn.yaml)
  • Example supports English, Persian (RTL), Japanese, and Simplified Chinese

Theme Development Guidelines

Hugo Theme Conventions

  • Theme files in this repository override Hugo defaults
  • Follow Hugo's theme development guidelines for compatibility
  • Maintain backward compatibility with existing configurations

JavaScript & Performance

  • All JavaScript components are designed to have minimal footprint
  • Core JS components in assets/js/core/: theme.js, nav-menu.js, code-copy.js, sidebar.js, tabs.js, etc.
  • FlexSearch powers offline full-text search (assets/js/flexsearch.js)

CSS Architecture

  • Uses Tailwind CSS v4+ with PostCSS processing
  • Component-based CSS organization in assets/css/components/
  • Compiled output goes to assets/css/compiled/main.css
  • Prettier formatting for Go templates and code consistency

Accessibility (WCAG Compliance)

All new features and UI changes must follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at the AA conformance level. Key requirements:

  • Semantic HTML: Use appropriate elements (<nav>, <main>, <aside>, <button>, <ul>, etc.) instead of generic <div>/<span> where applicable.
  • ARIA attributes: Add aria-label, aria-expanded, aria-controls, aria-current, role, and other ARIA attributes to interactive components (menus, toggles, dropdowns, modals) so screen readers can interpret them.
  • Keyboard navigation: All interactive elements must be reachable and operable via keyboard (Tab, Enter, Escape, arrow keys). Manage focus appropriately when opening/closing menus, modals, and drawers.
  • Focus indicators: Never remove visible focus outlines. Use the existing hextra-focus utility or equivalent visible focus ring styles.
  • Color contrast: Text and interactive elements must meet WCAG AA contrast ratios (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text). Verify in both light and dark modes.
  • Images and icons: Decorative SVGs/icons should have aria-hidden="true". Meaningful images need descriptive alt text.
  • Skip links and landmarks: Preserve existing skip-navigation links and ARIA landmark roles (role="navigation", role="search", etc.).
  • Live regions: Use aria-live for dynamic content updates (e.g., search results, status messages) so assistive technology announces changes.
  • Form controls: Associate <label> elements with inputs. Provide accessible names for buttons that contain only icons.

When introducing a new component or modifying an existing one, verify it works with keyboard-only navigation and review the rendered HTML for proper semantics and ARIA usage.

Testing & Quality Assurance

  • Test all changes in docs/ before releasing
  • Use npm run dev:theme for theme development with hot reloading
  • Format code with npx prettier --write . before committing
  • Verify multi-language functionality across supported languages