From e28d6e2b8df6098ea27eeb16883cc175ea18d28f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sai Asish Y <say.apm35@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2026 16:28:30 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(variable): treat unexported struct fields as nil instead
 of panicking

---
 pongo2_issues_test.go | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 variable.go           | 14 ++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pongo2_issues_test.go b/pongo2_issues_test.go
index b914288..8fb3ad5 100644
--- a/pongo2_issues_test.go
+++ b/pongo2_issues_test.go
@@ -2471,3 +2471,26 @@ func TestBugAndOrPrecedence(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+type issue204Item struct{ index string }
+
+func (i issue204Item) String() string { return "Item-" + i.index }
+
+// Issue #204: accessing an unexported struct field from a template must not panic.
+func TestIssue204UnexportedStructField(t *testing.T) {
+	items := []interface{}{issue204Item{"0"}, issue204Item{"1"}, issue204Item{"2"}}
+
+	for _, tplStr := range []string{
+		`{% for item in items %}{% if item.index %}x{% endif %}{% endfor %}`,
+		`{% for item in items %}{{ item["index"] }}{% endfor %}`,
+		`{% for item in items %}{{ item.index }}{% endfor %}`,
+	} {
+		tpl, err := pongo2.FromString(tplStr)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("parse error for %q: %v", tplStr, err)
+		}
+		if _, err := tpl.Execute(pongo2.Context{"items": items}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("execute error for %q: %v", tplStr, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/variable.go b/variable.go
index ed83be2..0966552 100644
--- a/variable.go
+++ b/variable.go
@@ -381,7 +381,12 @@ func (vr *variableResolver) resolveIntIndex(current reflect.Value, part *variabl
 func (vr *variableResolver) resolveIdentifier(current reflect.Value, part *variablePart) (reflect.Value, bool, error) {
 	switch current.Kind() {
 	case reflect.Struct:
-		return current.FieldByName(part.s), false, nil
+		field := current.FieldByName(part.s)
+		if field.IsValid() && !field.CanInterface() {
+			// Unexported fields are not accessible from templates (Django renders them empty).
+			return reflect.Value{}, true, nil
+		}
+		return field, false, nil
 	case reflect.Map:
 		return current.MapIndex(reflect.ValueOf(part.s)), false, nil
 	default:
@@ -417,7 +422,12 @@ func (vr *variableResolver) resolveSubscript(
 		}
 		return reflect.Value{}, true, nil
 	case reflect.Struct:
-		return current.FieldByName(sv.String()), false, nil
+		field := current.FieldByName(sv.String())
+		if field.IsValid() && !field.CanInterface() {
+			// Unexported fields are not accessible from templates (Django renders them empty).
+			return reflect.Value{}, true, nil
+		}
+		return field, false, nil
 	case reflect.Map:
 		if sv.IsNil() {
 			return reflect.Value{}, true, nil