Redirects

What you get

• Old addresses send visitors and search engines to the new ones
• Renamed pages, moved sections and changed address shapes
• Short links and campaign addresses
• Removed pages answered as gone for good
• An old domain, or www, sent to the main one
• Answered without waking the app

How it works

Every request passes through Caddy, the open-source web server at Whisk's edge. The redirects an app lists in whisk.yaml, or in a file beside it for long lists, are answered there before the app is reached, so a sleeping app stays asleep. A permanent redirect is the default, which carries a page's search ranking to its new address.

A rule names one old path, a path with a query such as an old shop's product links, a pattern like /blog/:year/:slug, or a whole section ending in /*. Up to 10,000 rules, enough for a large site's move. Each one is checked when the code is pushed, and a rule that sends a request in a loop is refused.

A custom domain can also send every request to another of the app's names. Old http:// links reach the final address in one step.

Example

A plumbing company moves its old website to Whisk. The move turns 1,800 old page addresses into a redirects file, and the old domain is set to send visitors to the new one. Links in old quotes, directory listings and search results all land on the right page, and the site keeps its place in search.

For your coding agent

redirects:
  - { from: /about-us, to: /about }
  - { from: /blog/:year/:slug, to: /posts/:slug }
  - { from: /go/zoom, to: "https://zoom.us/j/123", status: 302 }
redirects_file: redirects.txt

whisk redirects check and whisk redirects test /old-page try them before a deploy. whisk domains redirect www.example.com example.com sends a whole domain; see the manifest reference and custom domains.