---
aliases:
- /doc/dynamiccontent/
date: 2015-02-14
menu:
  main:
    parent: extras
next: /extras/highlighting
prev: /extras/datafiles
title: Dynamic Content
weight: 91
---

Dynamic content with a static site generator? Yes it is possible!

In addition to the [built-in variables](/templates/variables/) available from Hugo, you can specify your own custom data that can be accessed via templates or shortcodes.

Hugo supports loading data from [YAML](http://yaml.org/), [JSON](http://www.json.org/), and [TOML](https://github.com/toml-lang/toml) files located in the `data` directory.

**It even works with [LiveReload](/extras/livereload/).**

## The Data Folder

As explained in [Source Organization](/overview/source-directory/), the `data` folder is where you can store additional data for Hugo to use when generating your site. These files must be YAML, JSON or TOML files (using either the `.yml`, `.yaml`, `.json` or `toml` extension) and the data will be accessible as a `map` in `.Site.Data`.

**The keys in this map will be a dot chained set of _path_, _filename_ and _key_ in file (if applicable).**

This is best explained with an example: