Kong-Htop is a Hugo theme for blogging and documentation that pairs a frosted-glass (glassmorphism) visual style with built-in search, math rendering, and multilingual support.
What is Kong-Htop?
Kong-Htop is an open-source Hugo theme that renders Markdown content into a static, deployable HTML site. It takes standard Hugo content folders as input and outputs a fully functional blog or documentation site with local search, KaTeX math support, and a timeline-based archive. The theme is maintained by Yezihack, is based on the Poison theme by Luke Orth, and is distributed under the MIT License. It requires Hugo version 0.101.0 or later, as stated by the project's version badge.
Key Features
- Glassmorphism design — Applies a frosted-glass, translucent UI to headers, cards, and code blocks with GPU-accelerated animations.
- Dark mode — Automatically switches themes based on system settings; light and dark colors are configurable in
hugo.toml. - Local search — Full-text, client-side search powered by a JSON index; enable it with a search page that sets
outputs: ["html", "json"]. - KaTeX math support — Renders inline and block LaTeX math on pages without external services.
- Code enhancements — Syntax highlighting with a one-click copy button and optional line numbers.
- Timeline and random posts — Archive layout groups posts by year, and a widget sends visitors to a random article.
- Multilingual i18n — Supports Hugo's translation system with example posts in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, and Spanish.
- Tech stack and integrations — Requires Hugo 0.101.0+, uses custom CSS for glassmorphism (no front-end framework), and optionally integrates Busuanzi visitor counting.
Who is it for?
- Personal bloggers who want a visually distinctive site and need built-in search without an external service.
- Technical writers and educators who publish math-heavy or code-heavy documentation, benefiting from KaTeX rendering and code copy buttons.
- Hugo developers who like to customize themes; Kong-Htop exposes many configuration options for colors, menus, social links, and analytics.
- Multilingual site owners who manage content in several languages, since the theme ships with i18n examples and supports per-language strings.
What can you do with Kong-Htop?
- Launch a blog in minutes — Copy the example configuration from
exampleSite/hugo.toml, add posts undercontent/posts/, and preview locally withhugo server. - Add full-text search — Create a search page with the right front matter and your visitors can search the entire site from their browser.
- Write mathematical content — Use inline
$...$or block$$...$$KaTeX syntax to render formulas in posts and pages. - Publish in multiple languages — Structure content with Hugo's translation system and use the provided 7-language examples as a starting point.
- Deploy anywhere static — Build with
hugo --minifyand upload the resultingpublic/folder to GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or a custom server.
How does it work?
Kong-Htop is installed either as a Git submodule or by cloning the repository into your Hugo themes/ folder. The quick-start workflow is: copy the supplied hugo.toml from exampleSite, edit site metadata and theme parameters, then run hugo server for local preview. Production builds run hugo --minify, which generates the static public/ directory for deployment.
Pricing
Kong-Htop is free and open-source under the MIT License. There are no paid tiers or premium features.
Alternatives
- Poison — the Hugo theme that Kong-Htop is directly based on.
- Hyde — the Jekyll/Hugo theme that provided design inspiration for Kong-Htop's layout, as credited in the README.
FAQ
Is Kong-Htop free?
Yes, Kong-Htop is fully open-source and free to use under the MIT License. You can use it for personal or commercial projects without paying licensing fees.
What Hugo version do I need?
The README badge shows that Kong-Htop works with Hugo version 0.101.0 or newer. Older versions may not support the features used by the theme.
How do I enable search?
Create a Markdown file at content/search/_index.md with the front matter outputs: ["html", "json"]. The theme will then generate a JSON search index and provide a search box.
Does Kong-Htop support multiple languages?
Yes, it supports Hugo's i18n system. The example site includes posts in 7 languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, and Spanish.
Where can I deploy the generated site?
Any static hosting works. The README lists GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and your own server. Simply run hugo --minify and upload the public/ folder.
