What causes "shortcode has no name" in gohugoio/hugo?

Search the offending content file (Hugo reports the file/line) for {{ }} or {{% %}} and remove or complete the tag.

shortcode has no name

Error message

shortcode has no name

What it means

Thrown by shortcodeParseInfo.extractShortcode in hugolib/shortcode.go:601 when a left shortcode delimiter is immediately followed by a right delimiter with no name token. The parser sees {{< >}} or {{% %}} and aborts because a shortcode must name a template.

Solutions

Search the offending content file (Hugo reports the file/line) for {{< >}} or {{% %}} and remove or complete the tag.
Replace with the intended shortcode, e.g. {{< figure src="x.jpg" >}}.
If you meant a literal delimiter pair, escape it or use HTML entities.

Example fix

// before
{{< >}}
// after
{{< figure src="hero.jpg" >}}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Scan content for empty shortcode tags before build.
// rg -n '\\{\\{<\\s*>\\}\}|\\{\\{%\\s*%\\}\}' content/

Prevention

Run a pre-commit grep for empty shortcode delimiters in Markdown.
Use an editor snippet that always inserts a name placeholder inside {{< >}}.
Treat Hugo's file/line in the error as authoritative and fix at the source.

When it happens

Trigger: Authoring Markdown content containing an empty shortcode tag {{< >}} or {{% %}}, or a partial edit that deleted the shortcode name but left the delimiters.

Common situations: Typing a shortcode and accidentally closing it before the name, find-and-replace that emptied a shortcode name, or copy-pasting a shortcode skeleton without filling it in.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/041eeff137597dfd. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at hugolib/shortcode.go:601

			sc.indentation = item.ValStr(source)
		}
	}

	cnt := 0
	nestedOrdinal := 0
	nextLevel := level + 1
	closed := false
	const errorPrefix = "failed to extract shortcode"

Loop:
	for {
		currItem := pt.Next()
		switch {
		case currItem.IsLeftShortcodeDelim():
			next := pt.Peek()
			if next.IsRightShortcodeDelim() {
				// no name: {{< >}} or {{% %}}
				return sc, errors.New("shortcode has no name")
			}
			if next.IsShortcodeClose() {
				continue
			}

			if cnt > 0 {
				// nested shortcode; append it to inner content
				pt.Backup()
				nested, err := s.extractShortcode(nestedOrdinal, nextLevel, source, pt)
				nestedOrdinal++
				if nested != nil && nested.name != "" {
					s.addName(nested.name)
				}

				if err == nil {
					sc.inner = append(sc.inner, nested)
				} else {
					return sc, err

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