You are browsing Nuxt 2 docs. Go to Nuxt 3 docs, or learn more about Nuxt 2 Long Term Support.

Using NGINX as a reverse proxy

How to use nginx as a reverse proxy?

map $sent_http_content_type $expires {
    "text/html"                 epoch;
    "text/html; charset=utf-8"  epoch;
    default                     off;
}

server {
    listen          80;             # the port nginx is listening on
    server_name     your-domain;    # setup your domain here

    gzip            on;
    gzip_types      text/plain application/xml text/css application/javascript;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    location / {
        expires $expires;

        proxy_redirect                      off;
        proxy_set_header Host               $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP          $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For    $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto  $scheme;
        proxy_read_timeout          1m;
        proxy_connect_timeout       1m;
        proxy_pass                          http://127.0.0.1:3000; # set the address of the Node.js instance here
    }
}

Using nginx with generated pages and a caching proxy as fallback:

If you have a high volume website with regularly changing content, you might want to benefit from Nuxt generate capabilities and nginx caching .

Below is an example configuration. Keep in mind that:

  • root folder should be the same as set by configuration generate.dir
  • expire headers set by Nuxt are stripped (due to the cache)
  • both Nuxt and nginx can set additional headers, it's advised to choose one (if in doubt, choose nginx)
  • if your site is mostly static, increase the proxy_cache_path inactive and proxy_cache_valid numbers

If you don't generate your routes but still wish to benefit from nginx cache:

  • remove the root entry
  • change location @proxy { to location / {
  • remove the other 2 location entries 
proxy_cache_path  /data/nginx/cache levels=1:2 keys_zone=nuxt-cache:25m max_size=1g inactive=60m use_temp_path=off;

map $sent_http_content_type $expires {
    "text/html"                 1h; # set this to your needs
    "text/html; charset=utf-8"  1h; # set this to your needs
    default                     7d; # set this to your needs
}

server {
    listen          80;             # the port nginx is listening on
    server_name     your-domain;    # setup your domain here

    gzip            on;
    gzip_types      text/plain application/xml text/css application/javascript;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    charset utf-8;

    root /var/www/NUXT_PROJECT_PATH/dist;

    location ~* \.(?:ico|gif|jpe?g|png|woff2?|eot|otf|ttf|svg|js|css)$ {
        expires $expires;
        add_header Pragma public;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";

        try_files $uri $uri/ @proxy;
    }

    location / {
        expires $expires;
        add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';";
        add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";

        try_files $uri $uri/index.html @proxy; # for generate.subFolders: true
        # try_files $uri $uri.html @proxy; # for generate.subFolders: false
    }

    location @proxy {
        expires $expires;
        add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';";
        add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
        add_header X-Cache-Status $upstream_cache_status;

        proxy_redirect                      off;
        proxy_set_header Host               $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP          $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For    $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto  $scheme;
        proxy_ignore_headers        Cache-Control;
        proxy_http_version          1.1;
        proxy_read_timeout          1m;
        proxy_connect_timeout       1m;
        proxy_pass                  http://127.0.0.1:3000; # set the address of the Node.js instance here
        proxy_cache                 nuxt-cache;
        proxy_cache_bypass          $arg_nocache; # probably better to change this
        proxy_cache_valid           200 302  60m; # set this to your needs
        proxy_cache_valid           404      1m;  # set this to your needs
        proxy_cache_lock            on;
        proxy_cache_use_stale error timeout http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
        proxy_cache_key             $uri$is_args$args;
    }
}

nginx configuration for Laravel Forge:

Change YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER to your website folder and YOUR_WEBSITE_DOMAIN to your website URL. Laravel Forge will have filled out these values for you but be sure to double check.

# FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/before/*;

map $sent_http_content_type $expires {
    "text/html"                 epoch;
    "text/html; charset=utf-8"  epoch;
    default                     off;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name YOUR_WEBSITE_DOMAIN;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    charset utf-8;

    gzip            on;
    gzip_types      text/plain application/xml text/css application/javascript;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    # FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
    include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/server/*;

    location / {
        expires $expires;

        proxy_redirect off;
        proxy_set_header Host               $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP          $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For    $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto  $scheme;
        proxy_read_timeout          1m;
        proxy_connect_timeout       1m;
        proxy_pass                          http://127.0.0.1:3000; # set the address of the Node.js
    }

    access_log off;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER-error.log error;

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

# FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/after/*;

Secure Laravel Forge with TLS:

It's best to let Laravel Forge do the editing of the nginx.conf for you, by clicking on Sites -> YOUR_WEBSITE_DOMAIN (SERVER_NAME) and then click on SSL and install a certificate from one of the providers. Remember to activate the certificate. Your nginx.conf should now look something like this:

# FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/before/*;

map $sent_http_content_type $expires {
    "text/html"                 epoch;
    "text/html; charset=utf-8"  epoch;
    default                     off;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name YOUR_WEBSITE_DOMAIN;

    # FORGE SSL (DO NOT REMOVE!)
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/258880/server.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/258880/server.key;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_ciphers 'ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES:CAMELLIA:DES-CBC3-SHA:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!MD5:!PSK:!aECDH:!EDH-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA:!EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:!KRB5-DES-CBC3-SHA:!3DES';
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/dhparams.pem;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    charset utf-8;

    gzip            on;
    gzip_types      text/plain application/xml text/css application/javascript;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    # FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
    include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/server/*;

    location / {
        expires $expires;

        proxy_set_header Host               $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP          $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For    $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto  $scheme;
        proxy_redirect              off;
        proxy_read_timeout          1m;
        proxy_connect_timeout       1m;
        proxy_pass                          http://127.0.0.1:3000; # set the address of the Node.js
    }

    access_log off;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER-error.log error;

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

# FORGE CONFIG (DOT NOT REMOVE!)
include forge-conf/YOUR_WEBSITE_FOLDER/after/*;