Hugo development and webserver caching

it didn’t work until I typed the full path into the browser blah…/index.html and then from that point forward it worked… I’m thinking it was browser cache again?

Yes, almost certainly browser cache! This is a classic Hugo development issue.

Here’s what likely happened:

Hugo server tried to load the page initially and failed (template not found) Your browser cached that error state or cached the broken page Even after you fixed the shortcode, the browser kept serving the old cached version When you typed the full path with index.html, it forced a fresh request, bypassing the cache From then on, the browser had the correct version cached Tips to avoid this in the future:

Hard refresh when working with Hugo: Mac: Cmd + Shift + R Windows/Linux: Ctrl + Shift + R Disable cache during development in Chrome DevTools: Open DevTools (F12) Go to Network tab Check “Disable cache” checkbox Keep DevTools open while developing Use Hugo’s –disableFastRender flag: bash hugo server –disableFastRender This forces Hugo to rebuild everything on each change

Private/Incognito window for quick testing when something seems weird Browser caching is one of the most frustrating parts of web development because everything looks like it’s not working when it actually is! Good instinct recognizing it.

Have questions or want to share your own sysadmin story? Leave a comment below!

(I will set up comments eventually ;)