gohugoio/hugo · error

must provide targetPath, the template data context and a…

Error message

must provide targetPath, the template data context and a Resource object

What it means

Thrown by resources.ExecuteAsTemplate when len(args) != 3. The function signature requires exactly: targetPath (string), data context (any), and a Resource object. Any other argument count triggers this error before any type checking.

Solutions

1. Provide exactly three arguments: targetPath, data, Resource.
2. Pass the page/section context (.) as the data argument if unsure.
3. Confirm you are calling ExecuteAsTemplate and not FromString/Get.
4. Count arguments in the template invocation literally.

Example fix

// before (missing data context):
{{ $r := resources.ExecuteAsTemplate "out.html" $tmpl }}
// after:
{{ $r := resources.ExecuteAsTemplate "out.html" . $tmpl }}

{{ $r := resources.ExecuteAsTemplate "out.html" . $src }}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling {{ resources.ExecuteAsTemplate "path" $resource }} (missing data) or {{ resources.ExecuteAsTemplate "path" . $r $extra }} (too many args). The variadic args ...any must total exactly 3.

Common situations: Forgetting the data context argument (most common), copying a call pattern from resources.FromString (which takes 2 args) into ExecuteAsTemplate, or accidentally passing extra options.

Related errors

• Defer does not take any arguments
• expected slice of Resource objects, received %T instead
• must not provide more arguments than Resource and hash…
• must provide a Resource object
• must provide an URL and optionally an options map

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f668d11629ece2ab. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at tpl/resources/resources.go:246

// FromString creates a Resource from a string published to the relative target path.
func (ns *Namespace) FromString(targetPathIn, contentIn any) (resource.Resource, error) {
	targetPath, err := cast.ToStringE(targetPathIn)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	content, err := cast.ToStringE(contentIn)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	return ns.createClient.FromString(targetPath, content)
}

// ExecuteAsTemplate creates a Resource from a Go template, parsed and executed with
// the given data, and published to the relative target path.
func (ns *Namespace) ExecuteAsTemplate(ctx context.Context, args ...any) (resource.Resource, error) {
	if len(args) != 3 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("must provide targetPath, the template data context and a Resource object")
	}
	targetPath, err := cast.ToStringE(args[0])
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	data := args[1]

	r, ok := args[2].(resources.ResourceTransformer)
	if !ok {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("type %T not supported in Resource transformations", args[2])
	}

	return ns.templatesClient.ExecuteAsTemplate(ctx, r, targetPath, data)
}

// Fingerprint transforms the given Resource with a MD5 hash of the content in
// the RelPermalink and Permalink.
func (ns *Namespace) Fingerprint(args ...any) (resource.Resource, error) {

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