Troubleshooting Apache .htaccess integration

To troubleshoot Apache .htaccess integration, make sure that the Prerender code part is the very first Rewrite condition. If you have any other rule above Prerender's code, which may consist of an [L] flag, then our integration will not work as the [L] flag means "do not process any rules below in this iteration." This is the main cause of issues in this integration.

Example of a wrong order:

RewriteEngine on

# Don't rewrite files or directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]  
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d  
RewriteRule ^ - [L]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]
# Rewrite everything else to index.html to allow html5 state links
RewriteRule ^ index.html [L]

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
    RequestHeader set X-Prerender-Token "YOURTOKEN"
    RequestHeader set X-Prerender-Version "prerender-apache@2.0.0"
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On

    <IfModule mod_proxy_http.c>
        RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} googlebot|bingbot|yandex|baiduspider|facebookexternalhit|twitterbot|rogerbot|linkedinbot|embedly|quora\ link\ preview|showyoubot|outbrain|pinterest\/0\.|pinterestbot|slackbot|vkShare|W3C_Validator|whatsapp|redditbot|applebot|flipboard|tumblr|bitlybot|skypeuripreview|nuzzel|discordbot|google\ page\ speed|qwantify|bitrix\ link\ preview|xing-contenttabreceiver|chrome-lighthouse|telegrambot [NC,OR]
        RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _escaped_fragment_
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(?!.*?(\.js|\.css|\.xml|\.less|\.png|\.jpg|\.jpeg|\.gif|\.pdf|\.doc|\.txt|\.ico|\.rss|\.zip|\.mp3|\.rar|\.exe|\.wmv|\.doc|\.avi|\.ppt|\.mpg|\.mpeg|\.tif|\.wav|\.mov|\.psd|\.ai|\.xls|\.mp4|\.m4a|\.swf|\.dat|\.dmg|\.iso|\.flv|\.m4v|\.torrent|\.ttf|\.woff|\.svg))

        RewriteRule ^(index\.html|index\.php)?(.*) https://service.prerender.io/%{REQUEST_SCHEME}://%{HTTP_HOST}$2 [P,END]
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>

Example of a good order:

RewriteEngine on

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
    RequestHeader set X-Prerender-Token "YOURTOKEN"
    RequestHeader set X-Prerender-Version "prerender-apache@2.0.0"
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On

    <IfModule mod_proxy_http.c>
        RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} googlebot|bingbot|yandex|baiduspider|facebookexternalhit|twitterbot|rogerbot|linkedinbot|embedly|quora\ link\ preview|showyoubot|outbrain|pinterest\/0\.|pinterestbot|slackbot|vkShare|W3C_Validator|whatsapp|redditbot|applebot|flipboard|tumblr|bitlybot|skypeuripreview|nuzzel|discordbot|google\ page\ speed|qwantify|bitrix\ link\ preview|xing-contenttabreceiver|chrome-lighthouse|telegrambot [NC,OR]
        RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _escaped_fragment_
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(?!.*?(\.js|\.css|\.xml|\.less|\.png|\.jpg|\.jpeg|\.gif|\.pdf|\.doc|\.txt|\.ico|\.rss|\.zip|\.mp3|\.rar|\.exe|\.wmv|\.doc|\.avi|\.ppt|\.mpg|\.mpeg|\.tif|\.wav|\.mov|\.psd|\.ai|\.xls|\.mp4|\.m4a|\.swf|\.dat|\.dmg|\.iso|\.flv|\.m4v|\.torrent|\.ttf|\.woff|\.svg))

        RewriteRule ^(index\.html|index\.php)?(.*) https://service.prerender.io/%{REQUEST_SCHEME}://%{HTTP_HOST}$2 [P,END]
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>

# Don't rewrite files or directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]  
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d  
RewriteRule ^ - [L]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]
# Rewrite everything else to index.html to allow html5 state links
RewriteRule ^ index.html [L]