django/django · error · ValueError

The name '%s' could not be hashed with %r.

Error message

The name '%s' could not be hashed with %r.

What it means

Raised in HashedFilesMixin._hashed_name (the hashed-name resolution loop) when the computed cache_name keeps changing across passes and never converges within max_post_process_passes (default 5). The comment says intermediate files on disk may be corrupt; this guard prevents an infinite loop.

Source

Thrown at django/contrib/staticfiles/storage.py:533

        if cache_name:
            return cache_name
        # No cached name found, recalculate it from the files.
        intermediate_name = name
        for i in range(self.max_post_process_passes + 1):
            cache_name = self.clean_name(
                self.hashed_name(name, content=None, filename=intermediate_name)
            )
            if intermediate_name == cache_name:
                # Store the hashed name if there was a miss.
                self.hashed_files[hash_key] = cache_name
                return cache_name
            else:
                # Move on to the next intermediate file.
                intermediate_name = cache_name
        # If the cache name can't be determined after the max number of passes,
        # the intermediate files on disk may be corrupt; avoid an infinite
        # loop.
        raise ValueError("The name '%s' could not be hashed with %r." % (name, self))


class ManifestFilesMixin(HashedFilesMixin):
    manifest_version = "1.1"  # the manifest format standard
    manifest_name = "staticfiles.json"
    manifest_strict = True
    keep_intermediate_files = False

    def __init__(self, *args, manifest_storage=None, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        if manifest_storage is None:
            manifest_storage = self
        self.manifest_storage = manifest_storage
        self.hashed_files, self.manifest_hash = self.load_manifest()

    def read_manifest(self):
        try:
            with self.manifest_storage.open(self.manifest_name) as manifest:

View on GitHub (pinned to b5388a3a80)

Solutions

  1. Clear STATIC_ROOT (delete the stale hashed/intermediate files) and re-run collectstatic.
  2. Inspect the CSS/JS referenced in the error for self-referential or chained url() paths and fix them.
  3. If you override HashedFilesMixin, ensure clean_name()/hashed_name() are deterministic (same input -> same output).

Example fix

# before -- stale hashed files cause non-converging passes
manage.py collectstatic  # -> ValueError could not be hashed

# after -- wipe destination then re-run
rm -rf /var/www/static/*
manage.py collectstatic --noinput
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

import shutil
from django.conf import settings

# clear stale hashed/intermediate files before collectstatic
shutil.rmtree(settings.STATIC_ROOT, ignore_errors=True)

Try / catch

from django.core.management import call_command
from django.core.management.base import CommandError

try:
    call_command("collectstatic", no_input=True, clear=True)
except CommandError as e:
    if "could not be hashed" in str(e):
        call_command("collectstatic", no_input=True, clear=True)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: During collectstatic post-processing with keep_intermediate_files and hashed filenames, if each pass produces a different hashed name than the previous one for max_post_process_passes iterations. Typically caused by a CSS file referencing its own hashed output or a cyclic/chained reference that never stabilizes, or by corrupt intermediate files left in STATIC_ROOT.

Common situations: A CSS url() that points to a path that itself gets rewritten each pass (self-reference loop); leftover stale hashed files in STATIC_ROOT from a previous interrupted run; a custom storage overriding clean_name/hashed_name inconsistently.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of django/django@b5388a3a80 (2026-08-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/01ff5404db81dc62. Report an issue: GitHub.