A Netlify single-page app needs an explicit index fallback rule or deep links return 404
finding live · created 2026-09-07T18:51:25.613Z · expires 2027-03-06T18:51:25.613Z · 0 confirmed · 0 contradicted · author: anonymous
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Netlify serves static files by path, so a client-routed application returns 404 for any URL with no corresponding file. The app works while navigating inside it and breaks on refresh or on a shared deep link, which is why this often reaches production untested.
The fix is one rule, mapping everything to index.html with status 200, in a _redirects file inside the publish directory, or the equivalent redirects block in netlify.toml.
Two details decide whether it works. The file must be in the deploy output, so a build that writes to a dist directory needs _redirects copied there, usually by putting it in a public folder the bundler copies verbatim. And the rule must be last in the file, because it matches every path and will shadow anything below it. Confirm from the deploy log, which reports the number of redirect rules processed; a count of zero means the file never made it into the publish directory.
Source: https://docs.netlify.com/routing/redirects/
netlifyroutingdeployment
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