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stage: Release
group: Release
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# Create redirects for GitLab Pages **(FREE)**

> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/issues/24) in GitLab Pages 1.25.0 and GitLab 13.4 behind a feature flag, disabled by default.
> - [Became enabled by default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/merge_requests/367) in GitLab 13.5.

In GitLab Pages, you can configure rules to forward one URL to another using
[Netlify style](https://docs.netlify.com/routing/redirects/#syntax-for-the-redirects-file)
HTTP redirects.

Not all
[special options offered by Netlify](https://docs.netlify.com/routing/redirects/redirect-options/)
are supported.

| Feature | Supported | Example |
| ------- | --------- | ------- |
| [Redirects (`301`, `302`)](#redirects) | **{check-circle}** Yes  | `/wardrobe.html /narnia.html 302`
| [Rewrites (`200`)](#rewrites)          | **{check-circle}** Yes  | `/* / 200` |
| [Splats](#splats)                      | **{check-circle}** Yes  | `/news/*  /blog/:splat` |
| [Placeholders](#placeholders)          | **{check-circle}** Yes  | `/news/:year/:month/:date /blog-:year-:month-:date.html` |
| Rewrites (other than `200`)            | **{dotted-circle}** No  | `/en/* /en/404.html 404` |
| Query parameters | **{dotted-circle}** No | `/store id=:id  /blog/:id  301` |
| Force ([shadowing](https://docs.netlify.com/routing/redirects/rewrites-proxies/#shadowing)) | **{dotted-circle}** No | `/app/  /app/index.html  200!` |
| Domain-level redirects | **{dotted-circle}** No | `http://blog.example.com/* https://www.example.com/blog/:splat 301` |
| Redirect by country or language | **{dotted-circle}** No | `/  /anz     302  Country=au,nz` |
| Redirect by role | **{dotted-circle}** No | `/admin/*  200!  Role=admin` |

NOTE:
The [matching behavior test cases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/blob/master/internal/redirects/matching_test.go)
are a good resource for understanding how GitLab implements rule matching in
detail. Community contributions are welcome for any edge cases that aren't included in
this test suite!

## Create redirects

To create redirects, create a configuration file named `_redirects` in the
`public/` directory of your GitLab Pages site.

Note that:

- All paths must start with a forward slash `/`.
- A default status code of `301` is applied if no [status code](#http-status-codes) is provided.
- The `_redirects` file has a file size limit of 64KB and a maximum of 1,000 rules per project.
  Only the first 1,000 rules are processed.
- If your GitLab Pages site uses the default domain name (such as
  `namespace.gitlab.io/projectname`) you must prefix every rule with the project name:

  ```plaintext
  /projectname/wardrobe.html /projectname/narnia.html 302
  ```

- If your GitLab Pages site uses [custom domains](custom_domains_ssl_tls_certification/index.md),
  no project name prefix is needed. For example, if your custom domain is `example.com`,
  your `_redirects` file would look like:

  ```plaintext
  /wardrobe.html /narnia.html 302
  ```

## Files override redirects

Files take priority over redirects. If a file exists on disk, GitLab Pages serves
the file instead of your redirect. For example, if the files `hello.html` and
`world.html` exist, and the `_redirects` file contains the following line, the redirect
is ignored because `hello.html` exists:

```plaintext
/projectname/hello.html /projectname/world.html 302
```

GitLab doesn't support Netlify's
[force option](https://docs.netlify.com/routing/redirects/rewrites-proxies/#shadowing)
to change this behavior.

## HTTP status codes

A default status code of `301` is applied if no status code is provided, but
you can explicitly set your own. The following HTTP codes are supported:

- **301**: Permanent redirect.
- **302**: Temporary redirect.
- **200**: Standard response for successful HTTP requests. Pages
  serves the content in the `to` rule if it exists, without changing the URL in
  the address bar.

## Redirects

> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/merge_requests/458) in GitLab 14.3.
> - Enabled on GitLab.com.
> - Enabled by default in self-managed GitLab behind the [`FF_ENABLE_REDIRECTS` feature flag](#feature-flag-for-redirects).

To create a redirect, add a rule that includes a `from` path, a `to` path,
and an [HTTP status code](#http-status-codes):

```plaintext
# 301 permanent redirect
/old/file.html /new/file.html 301

# 302 temporary redirect
/old/another_file.html /new/another_file.html 302
```

## Rewrites

> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/merge_requests/458) in GitLab 14.3.
> - Enabled on GitLab.com.
> - Disabled by default in self-managed GitLab behind the [`FF_ENABLE_PLACEHOLDERS` feature flag](#feature-flag-for-rewrites).

Provide a status code of `200` to serve the content of the `to` path when the
request matches the `from`:

```plaintext
/old/file.html /new/file.html 200
```

This status code can be used in combination with [splat rules](#splats) to dynamically
rewrite the URL.

## Splats

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/merge_requests/458) in GitLab 14.3.

A rule with an asterisk (`*`) in its `from` path, known as a splat, matches
anything at the start, middle, or end of the requested path. This example
matches anything after `/old/` and rewrites it to `/new/file.html`:

```plaintext
/old/* /new/file.html 200
```

### Splat placeholders

The content matched by a `*` in a rule's `from` path can be injected into the
`to` path using the `:splat` placeholder:

```plaintext
/old/* /new/:splat 200
```

In this example, a request to `/old/file.html` serves the contents of `/new/file.html`
with a `200` status code.

If a rule's `from` path includes multiple splats, the value of the first splat
match replaces any `:splat`s in the `to` path.

### Splat matching behavior

Splats are "greedy" and match as many characters as possible:

```plaintext
/old/*/file /new/:splat/file 301
```

In this example, the rule redirects `/old/a/b/c/file` to `/new/a/b/c/file`.

Splats also match empty strings, so the previous rule redirects
`/old/file` to `/new/file`.

### Rewrite all requests to a root `index.html`

Single page applications (SPAs) often perform their own routing using
client-side routes. For these applications, it's important that _all_ requests
are rewritten to the root `index.html` so that the routing logic can be handled
by the JavaScript application. You can do this with a `_redirects`
rule like:

```plaintext
/* /index.html 200
```

## Placeholders

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/-/merge_requests/458) in GitLab 14.3.

Use placeholders in rules to match portions of the requested URL and use these
matches when rewriting or redirecting to a new URL.

A placehold is formatted as a `:` character followed by a string of letters
(`[a-zA-Z]+`) in both the `from` and `to` paths:

```plaintext
/news/:year/:month/:date/:slug /blog/:year-:month-:date-:slug 200
```

This rule instructs Pages to respond to a request for `/news/2021/08/12/file.html` by
serving the content of `/blog/2021-08-12-file.html` with a `200`.

### Placeholder matching behavior

Compared to [splats](#splats), placeholders are more limited in how much content
they match. Placeholders match text between forward slashes
(`/`), so use placeholders to match single path segments.

In addition, placeholders do not match empty strings. A rule like the following
would **not** match a request URL like `/old/file`:

```plaintext
/old/:path /new/:path
```

## Debug redirect rules

If a redirect isn't working as expected, or you want to check your redirect syntax, visit
`https://[namespace.gitlab.io]/projectname/_redirects`, replacing `[namespace.gitlab.io]` with
your domain name. The `_redirects` file isn't served directly, but your browser
displays a numbered list of your redirect rules, and whether the rule is valid or invalid:

```plaintext
11 rules
rule 1: valid
rule 2: valid
rule 3: error: splats are not supported
rule 4: valid
rule 5: error: placeholders are not supported
rule 6: valid
rule 7: error: no domain-level redirects to outside sites
rule 8: error: url path must start with forward slash /
rule 9: error: no domain-level redirects to outside sites
rule 10: valid
rule 11: valid
```

## Differences from Netlify's implementation

Most supported `_redirects` rules behave the same in both GitLab and Netlify.
However, there are some minor differences:

- **All rule URLs must begin with a slash:**

  Netlify does not require URLs to begin with a forward slash:

  ```plaintext
  # Valid in Netlify, invalid in GitLab
  */path /new/path 200
  ```

  GitLab validates that all URLs begin with a forward slash. A valid
  equivalent of the previous example:

  ```plaintext
  # Valid in both Netlify and GitLab
  /old/path /new/path 200
  ```

- **All placeholder values are populated:**

  Netlify only populates placeholder values that appear in the `to` path:

  ```plaintext
  /old /new/:placeholder
  ```

  Given a request to `/old`:

  - Netlify redirects to `/new/:placeholder` (with a
  literal `:placeholder`).
  - GitLab redirects to `/new/`.

## Features behind feature flags

Some Pages features are behind feature flags.

### Feature flag for redirects

FLAG:
Redirects in GitLab Pages is under development, and is deployed behind a feature flag
that is **enabled by default**.

To disable redirects, for [Omnibus installations](../../../administration/pages/index.md), define the
`FF_ENABLE_REDIRECTS` environment variable in the
[global settings](../../../administration/pages/index.md#global-settings).
Add the following line to `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and
[reconfigure the instance](../../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

```ruby
gitlab_pages['env']['FF_ENABLE_REDIRECTS'] = 'false'
```

For [source installations](../../../administration/pages/source.md), define the
`FF_ENABLE_REDIRECTS` environment variable, then
[restart GitLab](../../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source):

```shell
export FF_ENABLE_REDIRECTS="false"
/path/to/pages/bin/gitlab-pages -config gitlab-pages.conf
```

### Feature flag for rewrites

FLAG:
Rewrites in GitLab Pages is under development, and is deployed behind a feature flag
that is **disabled by default**.

To enable rewrites, for [Omnibus installations](../../../administration/pages/index.md), define the
`FF_ENABLE_PLACEHOLDERS` environment variable in the
[global settings](../../../administration/pages/index.md#global-settings).
Add the following line to `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and
[reconfigure the instance](../../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure):

```ruby
gitlab_pages['env']['FF_ENABLE_PLACEHOLDERS'] = 'true'
```

For [source installations](../../../administration/pages/source.md), define the
`FF_ENABLE_PLACEHOLDERS` environment variable, then
[restart GitLab](../../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source):

```shell
export FF_ENABLE_PLACEHOLDERS="true"
/path/to/pages/bin/gitlab-pages -config gitlab-pages.conf
```
