Redirects, headers, and custom 404

Mincemeat lets you configure redirect rules, custom response headers, and a custom 404 page for your static site. These settings are applied at the edge — they take effect before files are served and work consistently across all your domains.

Before you start

• You must be signed in.
• You must own the static site.

Redirect rules

Redirect rules let you send visitors from one path to another. Use them when you rename or move pages, consolidate URLs, or redirect from an old path to a new one.

How redirects work

When a visitor requests a URL, Mincemeat checks your redirect rules before looking up files. If a rule matches the request path, the visitor is redirected to the destination path with the configured status code.

Add a redirect rule

1. Open the site detail view.
2. Open the Settings section.
3. In the Redirect rules area, select Add rule.
4. Enter the Source path — the path visitors may request (for example, /old-page).
5. Enter the Destination path — where visitors should be sent (for example, /new-page).
6. Choose a Status code:
   • 301 — permanent redirect. Search engines update their index.
   • 302 — temporary redirect. Search engines keep the original URL.
7. Save.

Redirect rule examples

Source	Destination	Status	Effect
/blog	/articles	301	Permanently redirect /blog to /articles.
/old-page	/new-page	301	Permanently redirect a renamed page.
/promo	https://shop.example.com/sale	302	Temporarily redirect to an external URL.

Evaluation order

Redirect rules are evaluated in the order you define them. The first matching rule wins. If no rule matches, request processing continues to file lookup and SPA fallback.

Custom response headers

Custom headers let you add HTTP response headers to every response from your site. Use them for security policies, caching hints, or custom metadata.

Add a custom header

1. Open the site detail view.
2. Open the Settings section.
3. In the Custom headers area, add a header name and value.
4. Save.

Allowed headers

You can set most standard and custom headers. However, Mincemeat does not allow you to override platform-managed headers:

Blocked header	Reason
Content-Length	Set automatically based on file size.
Content-Encoding	Managed by the serving infrastructure.
Host	Set by the visitor's request.

If you try to set a blocked header, it is silently ignored.

Common custom headers

Header	Value	Purpose
X-Frame-Options	DENY	Prevent your site from being embedded in iframes.
X-Content-Type-Options	nosniff	Prevent MIME-type sniffing.
Referrer-Policy	strict-origin-when-cross-origin	Control referrer information.
Permissions-Policy	camera=(), microphone=()	Disable unused browser features.

Custom 404 page

By default, when a visitor requests a path that does not match any file, Mincemeat returns a generic 404 response. You can replace this with your own HTML page.

Set a custom 404 page

1. Include a 404 page in your deployment (for example, 404.html at the root of your site files).
2. Open the site detail view.
3. Open the Settings section.
4. Set the Custom 404 path to the path of your error page (for example, /404.html).
5. Save.

When a visitor requests a path with no matching file, Mincemeat serves your custom page with a 404 status code.

Custom 404 and SPA fallback

If SPA mode is enabled, the custom 404 page is only served for paths that look like static assets (paths with a file extension). All other missing paths serve index.html through SPA fallback instead.

If SPA mode is disabled, the custom 404 page is served for all missing paths.

Feature interaction summary

Mincemeat processes each request in this order:

1. Redirect rules — if a rule matches, redirect immediately.
2. File lookup — if a file exists at the path, serve it.
3. SPA fallback — if enabled and the path has no file extension, serve index.html.
4. Custom 404 — if configured and no file was found, serve the custom 404 page with a 404 status.
5. Default 404 — return a generic 404 response.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Redirect not working	Check that the source path matches exactly. Redirects are case-sensitive.
Redirect loop	Make sure the destination does not redirect back to the source.
Custom header not appearing	Check that the header name is not on the blocked list. Inspect response headers in your browser's developer tools.
Custom 404 page not showing	Verify the path matches a file in your deployment. Make sure SPA mode is disabled if you want the 404 page for all missing paths.

Related

• SPA fallback
• Create a site
• Troubleshooting