.htaccess Generator

.htaccess (hypertext access) is a configuration file for Apache web servers. It controls URL rewriting, redirects, authentication, caching, compression, and security headers on a per-directory basis. Use it when you need server-level config without editing the main httpd.conf — common on shared hosting environments.

Add these two lines: RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off and RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]. The R=301 flag tells browsers and search engines this is a permanent redirect, so they'll update their cache and SEO signals will transfer.

Single page apps (React, Vue, Angular) handle routing in JavaScript — but when you refresh a URL like /dashboard, the server looks for a real file at that path and returns 404. The fix: add a rewrite rule that sends all requests to index.html, then let your JS router take over. This generator adds that rule automatically for the SPA preset.

301 is a permanent redirect — search engines transfer link equity to the new URL and browsers cache the redirect. 302 is temporary — search engines keep crawling the original URL, no SEO transfer. Use 301 for production redirects (HTTPS enforcement, domain changes, slug updates). Use 302 only for genuinely temporary situations like maintenance pages.

Slightly. Apache reads .htaccess on every request if AllowOverride is enabled. For high-traffic sites, move rules to the main server config (httpd.conf) for better performance. That said, the overhead is minimal for most sites, and the flexibility of per-directory config is usually worth it.

Use a FilesMatch directive: <FilesMatch "(\.env|\.git|config\.php)$"> followed by Order Allow,Deny and Deny from all. This prevents direct browser access to sensitive files. Always block .env, .git directories, composer.lock, and similar files that shouldn't be publicly accessible.