How I Built This Blog

Why Hugo + GitHub Pages?

Hey 👋
If you’re reading this, my blog actually works — which still feels a little unreal.

I wanted my first post to document exactly how I built this site. Not just the idea, but the actual commands, mistakes, and workflow that got everything live.

This is the post I wish I had when I started.

I wanted a setup that was:

• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Fast
• 🧠 Simple
• 📝 Markdown-based
• 🔄 Fully version controlled
• 🗄️ No database to maintain

Hugo and GitHub Pages checked every box.

The Tech Stack

• Hugo (extended) – static site generator written in Go
• Theme – nomad-tech (dark, techy, easy to customize)
• GitHub Pages – free static hosting
• GitHub Actions – automatic build & deploy
• Custom domain – masara.site

Once everything is wired up, publishing is literally:

git push

Step 1: Installing Hugo

First, I installed Hugo locally so I could build and preview the site.

⚠️ Don’t just run sudo apt install hugo. On Debian/Kali that often gives you an old, non-extended version, and themes that use SCSS (like mine) won’t build.

Grab the extended build from the Hugo releases page instead:

wget https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v0.167.0/hugo_extended_0.167.0_linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i hugo_extended_0.167.0_linux-amd64.deb

Verify the installation (look for +extended):

hugo version

Step 2: Creating the Site

Creating a new Hugo site is straightforward:

hugo new site masarajames.github.io
cd masarajames.github.io

Initialize Git (important):

git init

Hugo generates this structure:

content/    # Blog posts
layouts/    # Custom templates
static/     # Images, CSS, JS
themes/     # Themes (submodules)
hugo.toml   # Main configuration

Step 3: Adding a Theme (Git Submodule)

Instead of copying theme files, I added the theme as a submodule:

git submodule add https://github.com/m03315/nomad-tech.git themes/nomad-tech

This keeps the theme clean, separate, and updateable. Anything I want to change goes in my own layouts/ folder, which overrides the theme without touching it.

Step 4: Configuring Hugo

Most of the configuration lives in hugo.toml:

baseURL = "https://masara.site"
defaultContentLanguage = "en"
theme = "nomad-tech"

[languages.en]
  languageCode = "en-US"
  title = "This is Masara"

[params]
  author = "Masara"
  subtitle = "Experiments, mistakes, and lessons learned."
  description = "I try things. Sometimes they work"

Once this was set, the site finally had styling.

Step 5: Creating My First Post

Hugo generates posts with front matter automatically:

hugo new posts/my-first-blog-post.md

This creates a file like:

---
title: "My First Blog Post"
date: 2026-02-01
draft: true
---

I write everything in Markdown — no CMS, no editor lock-in.

Step 6: Previewing Locally

Before deploying anything, I preview locally:

hugo server -D

Then open:

http://localhost:1313

The -D flag shows draft posts.

Step 7: Automating Deployment (GitHub Actions)

I wanted zero manual deployment, so I set up GitHub Actions. This is a trimmed version of my .github/workflows/hugo.yml:

name: Deploy Hugo site to Pages

on:
  push:
    branches: ["main"]

permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      HUGO_VERSION: 0.167.0
    steps:
      - name: Install Hugo CLI
        run: |
          wget -O ${{ runner.temp }}/hugo.deb https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v${HUGO_VERSION}/hugo_extended_${HUGO_VERSION}_linux-amd64.deb \
          && sudo dpkg -i ${{ runner.temp }}/hugo.deb
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          submodules: recursive
      - id: pages
        uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
      - run: hugo --minify --baseURL "${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/"
      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
          path: ./public

  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: github-pages
    steps:
      - uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4

In the repo settings, under Pages → Source, pick GitHub Actions.

Now every push automatically builds and deploys the site.

Step 8: Publishing

When the post was ready:

git add .
git commit -m "Add first blog post"
git push origin main

GitHub Actions took over from there.

How It All Works (Behind the Scenes)

• I write Markdown
• Hugo converts it to HTML
• GitHub Actions builds the site
• GitHub Pages serves it

Markdown → Hugo → GitHub → Live website

Issues I Ran Into (And Fixes)

Theme not showing
→ Forgot theme = "nomad-tech", or cloned without --recurse-submodules

SCSS / “TOCSS” build errors
→ Needed Hugo extended, not the apt version

Images broken
→ Images must live in static/ and be linked as /images/name.png

404 after deploy
→ Wait a minute and check the GitHub Actions logs