Redirects with Node.js / Express

Node.js is a server-side JavaScript runtime, often used with the Express framework to build web applications. Redirects are handled directly in the code using the res.redirect() method.

301 (permanent) redirect with Express

Redirect a specific page:

app.get('/old-page', (req, res) => {
    res.redirect(301, 'https://www.example.net/new-page');
});

Redirect all URLs with a given prefix:

app.get('/old-directory/*', (req, res) => {
    const newPath = req.path.replace('/old-directory', '/new-directory');
    res.redirect(301, newPath);
});

302 (temporary) redirect with Express

res.redirect() sends a 302 code by default:

app.get('/temp-page', (req, res) => {
    res.redirect('https://www.example.net/destination-page');
});

Force HTTPS (middleware)

Place before other routes to force all requests to HTTPS:

app.use((req, res, next) => {
    if (req.headers['x-forwarded-proto'] !== 'https') {
        return res.redirect(301, 'https://' + req.headers.host + req.url);
    }
    next();
});

Note: x-forwarded-proto is the header sent by proxies and load balancers (Nginx, Heroku, AWS…). On a direct server without a proxy, use req.secure instead.

Complete example

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

// Force HTTPS
app.use((req, res, next) => {
    if (req.headers['x-forwarded-proto'] !== 'https') {
        return res.redirect(301, 'https://' + req.headers.host + req.url);
    }
    next();
});

// 301 redirect
app.get('/old-page', (req, res) => {
    res.redirect(301, '/new-page');
});

app.listen(3000);