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Document redirect pages template pattern #253

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9fda3cc
Document redirect pages template pattern
bcomnes Apr 18, 2026
b6cfeab
docs: move Redirect Pages section into Templates, fix examples
bcomnes Apr 18, 2026
df0162e
Fix redirect docs: wording, security warning, section placement, term…
bcomnes Apr 18, 2026
3078c5c
Rephrase --copy sentence to say copy a directory containing _redirects
bcomnes Apr 19, 2026
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63 changes: 63 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -951,6 +951,69 @@ const feedsTemplate: TemplateAsyncIterator<TemplateVars> = async function * ({
export default feedsTemplate
```

### Redirect Pages

Sites migrating from another platform often need redirect pages for old URLs that no longer exist. DomStack has no built-in redirect mechanism, but the object array template type makes it straightforward to generate as many HTML meta-refresh redirect pages as you need from a single template file.

```js
// src/redirects.template.js
// Generates one index.html per redirect entry using the meta-refresh pattern.

const redirects = [
{ from: '2020/old-slug', to: '/2020/new-slug/' },
{ from: '2021/another-old', to: '/2021/another-new/' },
]

export default function redirectsTemplate () {
return redirects.map(({ from, to }) => ({
outputName: `${from}/index.html`,
content: `<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=${escapeXml(to)}" />
<link rel="canonical" href="${escapeXml(to)}" />
<title>Redirecting...</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Redirecting to <a href="${escapeXml(to)}">${escapeXml(to)}</a></p>
</body>
</html>`,
}))
}

function escapeXml (str) {
return str
.replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
.replace(/</g, '&lt;')
.replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
.replace(/"/g, '&quot;')
.replace(/'/g, '&#39;')
}
```

The `outputName` field controls the output path. Using `${from}/index.html` creates a directory-style URL at the old path. The `escapeXml` helper prevents HTML injection in attribute values. Note that `escapeXml` alone does not block dangerous URL schemes like `javascript:` — keep redirect targets to known-safe URL patterns (relative paths or verified external URLs). Be careful with `from` values used in `outputName`: a leading `/` makes `path.resolve` treat it as an absolute filesystem path, writing the file outside the build directory. Path segments containing `..` can also escape the build directory. If `from` values come from any external source, sanitize them before use — for example, strip any leading slashes and reject entries that contain `..`.

**SEO note:** Meta-refresh is a client-side redirect. Search engines may not treat it as a permanent 301 redirect. For static hosting platforms that support server-side redirects, you can instead generate a `_redirects` file (Netlify, Cloudflare Pages) or `vercel.json` (Vercel) using the object template type:

```js
// src/redirects-netlify.txt.template.js
// Generates a _redirects file for Netlify / Cloudflare Pages.

const redirects = [
{ from: '/2020/old-slug/', to: '/2020/new-slug/' },
]

export default function () {
return {
outputName: '_redirects',
content: redirects.map(({ from, to }) => `${from} ${to} 301`).join('\n'),
}
}
```

Both approaches can coexist. Copying a directory that contains a hand-crafted `_redirects` file via `--copy` is also an option when you prefer to manage redirects outside the build.

## Global Assets

There are a few important (and optional) global assets that live anywhere in the `src` directory. If duplicate named files that match the global asset file name pattern are found, a build error will occur until the duplicate file error is resolved.
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