Add _redirects file to root path for Vue SPA hosted on Netlify

vue-cli created app 3.x

For the new build setup using the vue-cli version 3.0.0-beta.x there is a public folder now and you do not need the following setup. Just put your _redirects file under the public folder root. When you build it will make a copy to the dist folder which will be used for your deploy.

vue-cli created app prior to 3.x

Vue.js uses webpack to copy the static assets. This is maintained in webpack.prod.conf.js for the production build which is what you will need in this case for Netlify. I believe the best and cleanest configuration is based on this solution.

Search the file for the new CopyWebpackPlugin in webpack.prod.conf.js.

// copy custom static assets
new CopyWebpackPlugin([
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../static'),
    to: config.build.assetsSubDirectory,
    ignore: ['.*']
  }
])

Create a root ( folder in your project same level of the static folder ) You could name this anything you like, but I will use root for the example.

You would then make sure the _redirects file is in the new root directory or whatever you called it. In this case it is named root

Now modify the webpack.prod.conf.js CopyWebpackPlugin section to look like the following:

// copy custom static assets
new CopyWebpackPlugin([
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../static'),
    to: config.build.assetsSubDirectory,
    ignore: ['.*']
  },
  {
    from: path.resolve(__dirname, '../root'),
    to: config.build.assetsRoot,
    ignore: ['.*']
  }
])

I've tried Rutger Willems's snippet without the last line and it works. Credit goes to Hamish Moffatt.

[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

You could also just use the netlify.toml file which tends to be a bit cleaner. Just put this in the file to get the redirect you were looking for:

# The following redirect is intended for use with most SPA's that handles routing internally.
[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

netlify.toml is normally stored in the root of your site repository.

You can find more info about this file here.

Just in case you're looking for an answer on Nuxt instead of Vue, add the _redirects file to the static/ directory.