nginx returns 404 when serving React from subdirectory

bavaza

4/6/23, 3:56 PM

I've started with a React application served from nginx root. Then I followed this guide to serve the application from a sub-directory (/app). As suggested here, I changed my nginx config from this:

location / {
    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html =404;           
}

to this:

location /app {
    alias /usr/share/nginx/html;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /app/index.html =404;
}

This kinda works - I'm able to browse to https://localhost/app, and get all the static files as expected. My problem is with reloading URLs which are controlled by React Router (i.e. sending the nginx server a URL which includes parts after the /app). For example, before the change, both of the following worked:

https://localhost <-- works
https://localhost/auth/local <-- also works

The first simply returned the homepage. The second caused nginx to default to index.html, and React router took care to internally navigate to the correct page (/auth/local).

After the change, the first request works, but the 2nd fails with 404:

https://localhost/app <-- works
https://localhost/app/auth/local <-- fails with 404

By adding some debug headers, I see that after the change, in the 2nd case, nginx does not execute the block at all.

What am I doing wrong?

178

0 + 0

nginx

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: nginx returns 404 when serving React from subdirectory

TH: nginx ส่งคืน 404 เมื่อให้บริการ React จากไดเรกทอรีย่อย

RO: nginx returnează 404 când servește React din subdirector

RU: nginx возвращает 404 при обслуживании React из подкаталога

VI: nginx trả về 404 khi phục vụ React từ thư mục con

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