URLs and redirects

Each site builds its own URLs, so the same product can live at different addresses on different sites. Everything on this page is per site, apart from an entry’s base slug.

For any entry, the URL on a site comes from the first of these that applies:

1. Its custom URL for that site.
2. The site’s path generation rule for its type, using its slug on that site if it has its own.

How URLs are built

Open the site, then Path Generation. There is one rule per type, and a type not listed uses the default: the slug alone, with no prefix. Add one with Add Path Generation Rule.

Field	What it does
Type	The content type or taxonomy. It can’t be changed afterwards.
URL strategy	How the path is built. Only those that suit the type are offered.
Path prefix	Optional leading part, such as blog or shop/products. No leading slash.

Strategy	Result	For
Slug only	/prefix/my-page	Any type
Hierarchical slug chain	/prefix/parent/child/my-page	Types with parents, such as pages and categories
Canonical terms	/prefix/category/my-product	Content filed under a taxonomy, such as posts and products

Parents that aren’t on the site are left out of a hierarchical chain, so the URL only names things the site actually shows.

Canonical terms has further settings:

• Canonical taxonomies: which taxonomies can name the path. In the order you select them, the first that has a term for the entry wins.
• Include taxonomy ancestor chain in the path: /parent-category/category/my-product rather than /category/my-product.
• Fall back to slug-only when no term resolves: on by default. Turned off, an entry with no usable term has no URL on this site.

The term used is the entry’s primary term for that site. It is picked automatically from the terms the entry has on the site, or you can choose it on the entry’s Primary Terms tab (Set primary term). Reset to automatic goes back to the automatic pick.

Reset to default on a rule deletes it, so the type returns to the slug alone.

A new rule changes every URL of that type on the site

Each entry’s old URL gets a redirect, so links keep working, but one change can make thousands of them. Decide patterns before a site goes public where you can.

Checking what is live

Active Paths lists everything live on the site and the URL it has, with filters for Type and Status. It is read-only: you fix a problem at its source, not here. Indexed (a column you can switch on) says when each row was last rebuilt.

Status	Meaning	What to do
Resolved	It has a working URL.	Nothing.
Conflicting	Another entry already holds the URL. The list says which, as “Wants /x, already taken by …”. This one has no URL for now.	Change one’s slug, or give one a custom URL.
Unaddressable	A URL can’t be built, for example no primary term with the fallback off, or a path starting with a reserved word.	Fix the term, the rule or the slug.

When two entries want the same URL, the one already holding it keeps it. An established URL doesn’t break because something newer collides with it.

An entry’s own Active Links tab shows the same thing across every site.

Redirects and retired URLs

Path History lists old URLs on the site. Most rows appear on their own:

What happened	What the old URL does
A slug, parent, rule or custom URL changed	301 Redirect to the entry’s current URL.
The entry was deleted	410 Gone, and its existing redirects turn to Gone too.

A redirect always goes to the entry’s current URL, so it stays right if the entry moves again, and never chains through other redirects. If the entry is no longer on the site, Redirects to shows Target unavailable (410) and visitors get a 410 until it returns.

If a new entry claims a URL that is in the history, the live page wins and the history row is removed.

An entry’s own Redirects tab shows its old URLs across every site.

Adding a redirect

Add redirect points an old URL at an entry on this site:

• Old path: the URL to redirect from, such as old-blog/my-post. It can’t be one that is live, one already in the history, or one starting with a reserved word.
• Redirect to: anything live on the site.

This is the way to catch URLs from an old site, or those of content you took off the site. You can only redirect to entries, not to outside addresses.

Removing a redirect

• Mark as Gone turns a redirect into a 410, telling search engines the page is gone for good. There is no button to turn it back, so delete it and add a new redirect if you change your mind.
• Delete removes the row, and the URL becomes a plain not-found page. It can’t be undone.

A custom URL for one entry

For one exception, use Site Path Overrides on the entry’s edit page, in its details, below the slug. Add Path Override, choose the Site, and type the URL path. It replaces the whole generated URL on that site, whatever the rule says. It appears only once the entry has been created.

The path takes lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens in each part, must not already be used by another entry on the site, and can’t start with a reserved word: admin, api, login, logout, register, password, storage, livewire, horizon or telescope.

Removing the row returns the entry to its generated URL. Either way, the old URL redirects.

To change only the slug and keep the pattern, use a slug override.

When changes take effect

You change	Takes effect
An entry’s title, slug, status or parent	That entry at once, on every site. Children, and content whose URL includes it, follow in the background.
A per-site wording override or custom URL	That entry at once, on that site.
A primary term	That entry at once, on that site.
The site’s front page	At once.
The site’s SEO defaults	At once.
A content rule	Background rebuild of the type on that site.
A path generation rule	Background rebuild of the type on that site.
An SEO template	Background rebuild of the type on that site.

A background rebuild needs the queue workers running, and takes longer on the full catalog. The site keeps serving its current URLs until each rebuild finishes. If one seems stuck, see background tasks.