Huey

Huey is a minimal Hugo blog theme built with Bulma CSS, designed for blogs and small personal sites by Adam Whitlock.

What is Huey?

Huey is a Hugo theme that uses Bulma CSS for styling. It requires Hugo version 0.154.2 or later, with the extended edition needed for Sass/SCSS compilation. The theme takes markdown content and front matter as input, and outputs a static site with a blog listing, archive, standalone pages, RSS feed, and social media links. It is intentionally minimal, with no JavaScript required for the core layout, and stores Bulma locally in the theme's assets/css/bulma directory.

Key Features

Huey offers a focused set of features for a minimal blog: no JavaScript by default, Bulma-based styling, and straightforward content organization. Here are the concrete capabilities:

• Minimal, no-JS core — Bulma is pure CSS, so the theme renders without JavaScript; scripts can be added later via layouts/partials/scripts.html.
• Page bundle support — Posts wrapped in bundles (a folder with index.md) automatically use header.jpg or header.png as the header image on the home and posts pages.
• Configurable colors — Bulma variables such as schemeMain, link, linkHover, and footerBackgroundColor can be overridden in the [params] table of config.toml; deeper changes go in assets/css/base/base.scss.
• Font Awesome icons — Optional icon support for page titles and footer social links; requires a Font Awesome token added as fontawesomeToken in [params] and network access to the CDN.
• Social media menu — Add entries under [[menu.social]] with a pre value for Font Awesome icon markup and a weight to control order.
• Security header templates — Example netlify.toml, _headers, and vercel.json files include Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy.
• Simple front matter — Blog posts use type: blog to appear on the home page; standalone pages use type: pages with layout: page to hide the date and allow a fa_icon.
• Local CSS assets — Bulma is stored in the theme, so sites can be moved or built without network access for the framework.

Who is it for?

Huey suits anyone who wants a lean Hugo site without the overhead of a full-featured theme. The intended audience includes:

• Bloggers who want a clean, fast site without a heavy theme; Huey keeps the dependency list to Hugo and Bulma.
• Hugo developers who prefer a small codebase they can read and modify; the theme is structured with separate Sass and extra CSS files.
• Static site owners who need pre-built security header configurations for Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, or GitHub Pages (via Cloudflare proxy).

What can you do with Huey?

Huey supports the main tasks of running a personal blog or small site with Hugo, from publishing posts to customizing colors and deploying securely. Common uses include:

• Publish blog posts: Create markdown files with type: blog in the front matter; they appear on the home page and in the archive. Use lastmod to display a last-updated date.
• Add standalone pages: For About or Contact pages, set type: pages and layout: page; optional Font Awesome icons appear next to the title when fa_icon is provided.
• Customize the look: Override Bulma color variables directly from config.toml, or add your own CSS rules to assets/css/extra.
• Deploy securely: Copy the appropriate header configuration file into your static hosting setup to enable security headers without writing them from scratch.

How does Huey work?

Huey runs as a standard Hugo theme: you install it, configure it in config.toml, and write content with specific front matter types. The build process uses Hugo's Sass support to compile Bulma, and the output is a static site ready for any host.

To install Huey, either clone it into themes/huey using git clone https://github.com/alloydwhitlock/huey/ --depth=1 or add it as a submodule with git submodule add https://github.com/alloydwhitlock/huey/ themes/huey. After setting up config.toml with the provided boilerplate, you write content with the required front matter types. Hugo processes the Sass in the theme to generate the final CSS, and the built site goes to the public folder. Updates are applied with git pull (clone) or git submodule update --remote --merge (submodule).

FAQ

Is Huey free to use?

Huey is an open-source Hugo theme published on GitHub with no listed license restrictions or pricing. You can clone it, use it for personal or commercial sites, and modify it as needed.

Does Huey work without JavaScript?

Yes, Huey's core layout uses only Bulma CSS, which is pure CSS. JavaScript is only loaded if you add your own scripts via layouts/partials/scripts.html.

Can I use social icons without Font Awesome?

Yes, if you do not enable Font Awesome, the menu entries in [[menu.social]] display the text name you specify instead of an icon. The pre value is used for the icon markup when Font Awesome is active.

What hosting platforms have security header examples?

Huey includes example security header configurations for Netlify (netlify.toml or _headers), Cloudflare Pages (_headers), and Vercel (vercel.json). For GitHub Pages, which does not support custom headers, the README suggests using Cloudflare as a proxy.

How do I update Huey?

If you cloned Huey directly into your themes directory, run git pull inside themes/huey. If you used a submodule, run git submodule update --remote --merge from your site root.