.htaccess Generator

Build an .htaccess file for Apache or LiteSpeed. Choose the behaviours you need — force HTTPS, canonicalise www, enable compression and caching, block hotlinking, add security headers — and the rules are emitted in the order Apache actually evaluates them.

That ordering is the part most generated files get wrong, and the reason a rule that looks correct silently never fires.

How it works

.htaccess is a per-directory configuration file read on every single request, for the requested directory and every parent above it. That cost is why the Apache documentation recommends putting rules in the main server config where you can — but on shared hosting you usually cannot, which is what makes .htaccess ubiquitous.

Order is not cosmetic. Rewrite rules are evaluated top to bottom, and a rule ending in [L] stops processing for that pass. If a front-controller rule (RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]) sits above your HTTPS redirect, the redirect never runs — every request is captured first. This generator emits canonical redirects before anything else for exactly that reason.

Rules worth understanding:

• Force HTTPS. Behind a proxy or CDN, checking %{HTTPS} can fail, because the connection to your origin may genuinely be HTTP. The generator also checks %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto}, without which you get an infinite redirect loop — the single most common .htaccess disaster.
• Combine redirects. Sending http://example.com to https://example.com and then to https://www.example.com costs two round trips. One rule handling protocol and host together costs one.
• Caching. Hashed asset filenames can be cached for a year with immutable. HTML must not be, or visitors will see stale pages after you deploy.
• Hotlink protection blocks other sites embedding your images. Always allow an empty referrer, or you break direct visits and some privacy browsers.

One caution: a syntax error in .htaccess returns a 500 on every page, not just the affected path. Keep a copy of the previous file before replacing it.

Frequently asked questions