---
title: Redirects and rewrites
description: Configure redirects and rewrites in Thunder Console
---

The terms "redirect" and "rewrite" refer to different ways of handling HTTP requests, and they serve distinct purposes in web development.

## CloudFront Lambda@Edge

For patterns that use CloudFront distributions (such as [CDK-SPA](/docs/patterns/s3-cloudfront)), redirects and rewrites are implemented using [**AWS Lambda@Edge**](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-edge.html) functions that execute at [CloudFront](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/) edge locations. This provides low-latency routing decisions across a global network of edge servers, allowing you to:

- Process requests without additional server round-trips
- Implement intelligent routing based on request properties
- Serve dynamic content patterns with minimal latency
- Scale globally without infrastructure management

This feature is available for static site hosting patterns that leverage CloudFront. Other hosting patterns may have different routing capabilities.

## Redirect

A redirect is an HTTP response that instructs the client's browser to make a new request to a different URL. When implemented through Lambda@Edge at CloudFront, redirects happen at edge locations without requiring requests to reach your origin server.

*HTTP Status Codes*: Commonly uses status codes like <code>301 (Moved Permanently)</code> or <code>302 (Found/Temporary Redirect)</code>. See [HTTP Status Codes](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudFront/latest/DeveloperGuide/Redirects.html) in the CloudFront documentation for more details.

*Client-Side Action*: The browser updates the URL in the address bar to the new location specified in the Location header of the response.

Use Cases:
- Moving content to a new URL to avoid a broken link when the address of a page changes.
- To avoid a broken link when a user makes a predictable typo in an address.

SEO Impact: 
A 301 redirect passes most of the SEO value from the old URL to the new one, while a 302 redirect does not.

## Rewrite

A rewrite (also called a 200 Redirect) modifies the URL path internally on the server without changing the URL in the client's browser. When implemented through [Lambda@Edge](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-edge.html) at CloudFront, rewrites are processed at edge locations, allowing CloudFront to serve the rewritten content without client awareness or additional requests.

*No HTTP Status Code*: Since the rewrite is internal, it doesn't involve sending a new HTTP status code to the client. 

*Server-Side Action*: The server processes the request as if it was made to the rewritten URL.

Use Cases:
- Serving a single-page application (SPA) by rewriting all paths to index.html.
- Handling legacy URLs without changing the visible URL structure.

SEO Impact: Since the URL in the browser doesn't change, rewrites don't directly impact SEO.

## Pattern

Configure redirects and rewrites for CloudFront-based deployments using pattern matching. Patterns support static paths, wildcards, and placeholders to handle various URL transformation scenarios.

Using static paths:

| **Source**                 | **Destination**          |
|----------------------------|--------------------------|
| <code>/home</code>         | <code>/</code>           |

Using wildcards:

| **Source**                       | **Destination**               | **Example Effect**                           |
|----------------------------------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| <code>/guide/*</code>            | <code>/blog/*</code>          | <code>/guide/path1</code> → <code>/blog/path1</code>     |
| <code>/cms/*</code>              | <code>/*</code>               | <code>/cms/path1</code> → <code>/path1</code>            |

Using placeholders:

| **Source**                 | **Destination**          | **Example Effect**                        |
|----------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| <code>/docs/:any</code>    | <code>/:any</code>       | <code>/docs/introduction</code> → <code>/introduction</code>    |
| <code>/blog/posts/:postid</code> | <code>/blog/:postid</code> | <code>/blog/posts/123</code> → <code>/blog/123</code> |
| <code>/updates/:year/:month</code> | <code>/changelog/:year/:month</code> | <code>/updates/2023/10</code> → <code>/changelog/2023/10</code> |