# Theme is not used

**URL:** https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 22, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862 "2025-09-22T14:00:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fschwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@fschwa](https://zola.discourse.group/u/fschwa)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862/1 "2025-09-22T14:00:07Z")

</div>

Hi,

the theme I am trying to use, is not applied.

I started following the instructions on [Overview | Zola](https://www.getzola.org/documentation/getting-started/overview/) and wanted to add a theme afterwards.

I have it copied to the themes folder and its folder name is set with the theme= variable in the top level of my project’s config.toml. I also tried removing the templates folder and I also tried copying the templates folder from the theme … Everything I did either threw an error or it just did nothing. Am I missing a step?

config.toml:

```auto
base_url = "https://foobar.tld"
title = "Blog title"
description = "Blog description"

compile_sass = true
build_search_index = false

theme = "zolastrap"

```

My folder structure:

```auto
├── config.toml
├── content
│ └── _index.md
├── templates
│ ├── base.html
│ ├── blog.html
│ ├── blog-page.html
│ └── index.html
├── themes
│ ├── zolastrap

```

Thanks for any hint.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![hahwul](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/zola.discourse.group/hahwul/32/1445_2.png) [@hahwul](https://zola.discourse.group/u/hahwul)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862/2 "2025-09-25T15:45:57Z")

</div>

Hmm, I tested it and the theme loaded fine. Maybe the templates folder is overriding it?

Try removing it and see if zolastrap works.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fschwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@fschwa](https://zola.discourse.group/u/fschwa)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862/3 "2025-09-25T19:54:22Z")

</div>

Thanks for taking the time to test it.

For me, removing the `templates` folder does not help. My `content/_index.md`seems to reference something in the `templates` folder. … Can you please tell me, what is in your `content` folder and your `_index.html`?

My\_index.md is:

```auto
+++
title = "first"
sort_by = "date"
template = "index.html"
page_template = "page.html"
+++

```

My error message on `zola build`is:

```auto
Error: Failed to build the site
Error: Failed to render section '/path/to/content/_index.md'
Error: Reason: Failed to render 'index.html'
Error: Reason: Variable `paginator.pages` not found in context while rendering 'index.html'

```

Do I have to set `pages` somewhere? The theme’s github page does not mention anything related.

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fschwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@fschwa](https://zola.discourse.group/u/fschwa)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://zola.discourse.group/t/theme-is-not-used/2862/4 "2025-09-25T20:02:12Z")

</div>

Hi,

right after posting I changed my search keywords and found this: [Fails to render pages, `paginator.pages` not found in context · Issue #2 · getzola/after-dark · GitHub](https://github.com/getzola/after-dark/issues/2)

Apparently, the `_index.md` needs a variable `paginate_by = 5`for some themes.

Now it builds fine. 🙂