Add _redirects file to root path for Vue SPA hosted on Netlify

Question

I'm developing a Single Page App using Vue CLI and want history pushstate to work so I get clean URLs.

I have to follow this: https://www.netlify.com/docs/redirects/#history-pushstate-and-single-page-apps and add a _redirects file to the root of my site folder with the following:

/*    /index.html   200

The problem is I don't know how to add this _redirects file to the root of my dist folder. I tried adding it to the static folder but it ends up in a subfolder and not in root. How can I include this file so that history mode works after deploying on Netlify ?

// config/index.js
build: {
  // Paths
  assetsRoot: path.resolve(__dirname, '../dist'),
  assetsSubDirectory: 'static',
  assetsPublicPath: '/',

Solution 1

vue-cli created app 3.x

For the new build setup using the vue-cli version 3.0.0-beta.x there is a public folder now and you do not need the following setup. Just put your _redirects file under the public folder root. When you build it will make a copy to the dist folder which will be used for your deploy.

vue-cli created app prior to 3.x

Vue.js uses webpack to copy the static assets. This is maintained in webpack.prod.conf.js for the production build which is what you will need in this case for Netlify. I believe the best and cleanest configuration is based on this solution.

Search the file for the new CopyWebpackPlugin in webpack.prod.conf.js.

// copy custom static assets
new CopyWebpackPlugin([
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../static'),
    to: config.build.assetsSubDirectory,
    ignore: ['.*']
  }
])

Create a root ( folder in your project same level of the static folder ) You could name this anything you like, but I will use root for the example.

You would then make sure the _redirects file is in the new root directory or whatever you called it. In this case it is named root

Now modify the webpack.prod.conf.js CopyWebpackPlugin section to look like the following:

// copy custom static assets
new CopyWebpackPlugin([
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../static'),
    to: config.build.assetsSubDirectory,
    ignore: ['.*']
  },
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../root'),
    to: config.build.assetsRoot,
    ignore: ['.*']
  }
])

Solution 2

You could also just use the netlify.toml file which tends to be a bit cleaner. Just put this in the file to get the redirect you were looking for:

# The following redirect is intended for use with most SPA's that handles routing internally.
[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

netlify.toml is normally stored in the root of your site repository.

You can find more info about this file here.

Solution 3

I've tried Rutger Willems's snippet without the last line and it works. Credit goes to Hamish Moffatt.

[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

Solution 4

Just in case you're looking for an answer on Nuxt instead of Vue, add the _redirects file to the static/ directory.

Solution 5

You can simply add the _redirects file to your /public directory in your vue app

View more solutions

Comments

[Alex]

Yes I have tried placing the _redirects file in the static folder but it is then placed in the static folder in dist folder whereas I need to have _redirects at root after build so that Netlify picks it up

[talves]

Right, but did you check your setting like mentioned in the answer above?

[Alex]

Yes I have the same settings as above (edited in my question), I'm trying to avoid changing the SubDirectory to empty string so that the _redirects file ends in the root of the public folder as I only need it for this file

[talves]

I see your problem now. sorry, see my edits based on your requirements

[Alex]

Your new answer is spot on ! Thank you very much. I'm sure it will be useful to other people who are hosting a Single Page App on Netlify

[talves]

It should help anyone using vue.js for sure and Netlfy

[Eddy R.]

The webpack configuration is all different in vue-cli version 3. How would we do the equivalent configuration in that setup?

[talves]

For the new build setup using the vue-cli version 3.0.0-beta.x there is a public folder now and you do not need this setup. Just put your _redirects file under the public folder root. When you build it will make a copy to the dist folder which will be used for your deploy.

[Eddy R.]

Awesome thanks! You should add that to your answer, very useful!

[Wanny Miarelli]

this will broke the form functionality

[Kartik Garasia]

just remove this line force = true # Ensure that we always redirect and add the history mode other then that this code is working file in my view js project

[Hamish Moffatt]

Don't use force = true, because then all your other assets (including all your javascript code) also get redirected to index.html !

[Heriberto Magaña]

Thanks, it worked for me, even that I'm using React.js 16 :)

[urbz]

Thank you so much for this @talves - was driving me crazy that _redirects did not get served correctly

[Serg.ID]

the answer is not relevant to the question