What causes "failed to resolve %q to an archetype template" in gohugoio/hugo?

Add a known content extension to the target path (e.g. posts/myfile.md).

failed to resolve to an archetype template

Error message

failed to resolve %q to an archetype template

What it means

In create.NewContent (create/content.go:96) Hugo resolves the archetype as <kind><ext> then default<ext>. If the targetPath has no extension, ext (paths.Ext) is the empty string, no archetype filename can be formed, and Hugo cannot scaffold the file. It returns this error instead of guessing a template.

Solutions

Add a known content extension to the target path (e.g. posts/myfile.md).
If scripting NewContent, ensure targetPath always ends with a content extension.

Example fix

# before
$ hugo new posts/myfile

# after
$ hugo new posts/myfile.md

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import "github.com/gohugoio/hugo/common/paths"

func ValidateNewContentPath(targetPath string) error {
    if paths.Ext(targetPath) == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf("target path %q has no extension; cannot resolve an archetype", targetPath)
    }
    return nil
}

Try / catch

if err := create.NewContent(h, kind, targetPath, force); err != nil {
    return err
}

Prevention

Always include a content extension when invoking `hugo new`.
In scripts, assert the path has a non-empty extension before calling NewContent.

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `hugo new posts/myfile` (no extension), or calling NewContent programmatically with a targetPath lacking an extension.

Common situations: Forgetting the .md (or .html/.ad/.org) extension when scaffolding content via the CLI; assuming Hugo defaults to markdown.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a7cd5093bf042b67. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at create/content.go:97

	ext := paths.Ext(targetPath)

	b.setArcheTypeFilenameToUse(ext)

	withBuildLock := func() (string, error) {
		if !h.Configs.Base.NoBuildLock {
			unlock, err := h.BaseFs.LockBuild()
			if err != nil {
				return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to acquire a build lock: %s", err)
			}
			defer unlock()
		}

		if b.isDir {
			return "", b.buildDir()
		}

		if ext == "" {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve %q to an archetype template", targetPath)
		}

		if !h.Conf.ContentTypes().IsContentFile(b.targetPath) {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("target path %q is not a known content format", b.targetPath)
		}

		return b.buildFile()
	}

	filename, err := withBuildLock()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if filename != "" {
		return b.openInEditorIfConfigured(filename)
	}

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