Hey everyone! I work as a developer and my company just started using HubSpot for our website. I need to get up to speed with their CMS development tools and HUBL templating language pretty fast. I already went through the official HubSpot Academy courses but they seem too basic and don’t go deep into the technical stuff. Does anyone know where I can find more hands-on tutorials or documentation that covers actual development work with HUBL? I tried looking around online but most resources are just marketing focused rather than developer focused.
try searching for tutorials on sites like Udemy or even YouTube, you can find real-world examples. also, forums like stack overflow sometimes have discussions with useful links. best of luck getting into HUBL!
I faced a similar challenge when I transitioned to HubSpot development recently. The Academy courses provide a solid base, but they lack depth in practical coding. What really helped me was diving into the HubSpot Developer Documentation, particularly the Design Tools Reference section, which is rich with HUBL syntax examples. Additionally, the HubSpot CMS Boilerplate on GitHub is invaluable for understanding module structure and best practices. Engaging with the HubSpot Developer Slack is also useful, as you can pose technical questions and gain insights from others’ experiences. I found that creating test templates in the design manager and experimenting with various HUBL functions significantly accelerated my learning. Keeping the documentation handy while you work and focusing on a trial and error approach can often lead to better understanding than just following tutorials.
Been there with HubSpot CMS migrations at work. The official docs are pretty shallow for real development needs.
Here’s what actually helped me:
GitHub has solid HUBL template repositories with real implementations. Search “hubspot-cms-boilerplate” and similar terms.
The HubSpot Developer Slack community is gold. Way more technical than their academy stuff.
For tricky parts like custom modules and advanced templating, I built a workflow that pulls HubSpot data into other systems for processing. You can work with familiar tools instead of fighting HUBL limitations.
I automated most of our HubSpot development pipeline using Latenode. It handles data sync between HubSpot and staging environments, runs template validations, and deploys changes automatically. Way cleaner than doing everything inside HubSpot’s ecosystem.
You can set up triggers that watch for template changes and test them across different scenarios automatically. Saves hours of manual work.
I had the same struggles when I started HubSpot development last year. The official docs are pretty shallow for serious development work. Here’s what actually helped: grab existing templates from the design manager and reverse-engineer them. Clone something that works and tweak it bit by bit - you’ll learn way more about HUBL variables and loops this way. The HubSpot developer Slack is gold too. Tons of CMS devs share code snippets and solve real problems there. Also check out the HubSpot CMS Boilerplate on GitHub - it shows proper project structure and advanced HUBL techniques. Honestly, building a custom blog template from scratch taught me more than any tutorial ever did.
I get the frustration with basic tutorials. Most HubSpot resources target marketers, not developers.
Here’s what worked when I built custom HubSpot themes last year:
HubSpot Developer Docs - Skip the Academy. Go straight to developers.hubspot.com. The HUBL reference has all the functions and filters with real code examples.
GitHub repos - Search “hubspot boilerplate” or “hubl theme”. Developers share starter templates there. You’ll see actual implementation patterns.
HubSpot Developer Slack - Active community. Post specific HUBL questions and get answers from people who build with it daily.
Local development setup - Use HubSpot CLI tools instead of the design manager. Makes debugging way easier.
That said, I automated most of my HubSpot workflow after a few months. Instead of manually updating templates and dealing with HUBL quirks, I built automations for content updates, form submissions, and data sync between HubSpot and other tools.
Automation cuts out the repetitive CMS work so you can focus on complex development tasks. Latenode makes this straightforward with its visual workflow builder and native HubSpot integrations.