Installation / Webserver / Apache Configuration

Note: You are currently reading the documentation for Bolt 4.0. Looking for the documentation for Bolt 5.2 instead?

Bolt requires the use of a .htaccess file to make sure requests like page /about-this- website get routed to index.php, so it can be handled by Bolt. By default, the file looks like this:

# Use the front controller as index file. It serves as a fallback solution when
# every other rewrite/redirect fails (e.g. in an aliased environment without
# mod_rewrite). Additionally, this reduces the matching process for the
# start page (path "/") because otherwise Apache will apply the rewriting rules
# to each configured DirectoryIndex file (e.g. index.php, index.html, index.pl).
DirectoryIndex index.php

# By default, Apache does not evaluate symbolic links if you did not enable this
# feature in your server configuration. Uncomment the following line if you
# install assets as symlinks or if you experience problems related to symlinks
# when compiling LESS/Sass/CoffeScript assets.
# Options +FollowSymlinks

# Disabling MultiViews prevents unwanted negotiation, e.g. "/index" should not resolve
# to the front controller "/index.php" but be rewritten to "/index.php/index".
<IfModule mod_negotiation.c>
    Options -MultiViews
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On

    # Determine the RewriteBase automatically and set it as environment variable.
    # If you are using Apache aliases to do mass virtual hosting or installed the
    # project in a subdirectory, the base path will be prepended to allow proper
    # resolution of the index.php file and to redirect to the correct URI. It will
    # work in environments without path prefix as well, providing a safe, one-size
    # fits all solution. But as you do not need it in this case, you can comment
    # the following 2 lines to eliminate the overhead.
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}::$0 ^(/.+)/(.*)::\2$
    RewriteRule .* - [E=BASE:%1]

    # Sets the HTTP_AUTHORIZATION header removed by Apache
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} .+
    RewriteRule ^ - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%0]

    # Redirect to URI without front controller to prevent duplicate content
    # (with and without `/index.php`). Only do this redirect on the initial
    # rewrite by Apache and not on subsequent cycles. Otherwise we would get an
    # endless redirect loop (request -> rewrite to front controller ->
    # redirect -> request -> ...).
    # So in case you get a "too many redirects" error or you always get redirected
    # to the start page because your Apache does not expose the REDIRECT_STATUS
    # environment variable, you have 2 choices:
    # - disable this feature by commenting the following 2 lines or
    # - use Apache >= 2.3.9 and replace all L flags by END flags and remove the
    #   following RewriteCond (best solution)
    RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} =""
    RewriteRule ^index\.php(?:/(.*)|$) %{ENV:BASE}/$1 [R=301,L]

    # If the requested filename exists, simply serve it.
    # We only want to let Apache serve files and not directories.
    # Rewrite all other queries to the front controller.
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^ %{ENV:BASE}/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

<IfModule !mod_rewrite.c>
    <IfModule mod_alias.c>
        # When mod_rewrite is not available, we instruct a temporary redirect of
        # the start page to the front controller explicitly so that the website
        # and the generated links can still be used.
        RedirectMatch 307 ^/$ /index.php/
        # RedirectTemp cannot be used instead
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>

In some cases it won't work without the RewriteBase line, and in some cases it won't work with it, depending on how your Apache is configured and the location on your site on the server.

Anyway, if your site does not work, try uncommenting the RewriteBase line and set it to the correct folder. For instance, if your Bolt site is located at example.org/test/, set it to RewriteBase /test/.

Alternatively, if your server is running Apache 2.2.16 or higher, you might be able to replace the entire mod_rewrite block from lines 22-35 with this single line:

FallbackResource /index.php

If you have misplaced your .htaccess file, you can get a new one here, from our open source repository. Be sure to name it .htaccess, though.

.htaccess update for Bolt versions lower than 4.1.13¶

We resolved a potential vulnerability that made files in your theme folder to be exposed at their relative URL. Follow the steps below to forbid access to twig templates and other files.

Add the following 2 lines to your public/.htaccess file, on line 50:

# Deny access to any files in the theme folder, except for the listed extensions.
RewriteRule theme\/.+\.(?!(html?|css|js|jpe?g|png|gif|svg|pdf|avif|webp|mp3|mp?4a?v?|woff2?|txt|ico|zip|tgz|otf|ttf|eot|woff|woff2)$)[^\.]+?$ - [F]

You can confirm that you are making the correct changes according to the Pull Request that resolved this vulnerability for new installations on Bolt's GitHub repository.