Nginx NodeJS proxying + AngularJS index.html rewriting

Issue

I have a webapp built on NodeJS + Express / AngularJS.

AngularJS $routeProvider is in html5 mode, meaning there is no index.html nor # in the URL.

I would like to use nginx to :

• proxy /api to my NodeJS app
• redirect all request in / to /index.html
• redirect all request in /app to /app/index.html

Examples

• /support: / should be rewrited to index.html, then the angular $routeProvider process the support route and render SupportController
• /app/login: /app/ should be rewrited to /app/index.html, then the angular $routeProvider process the login route and render LoginController
• /api/auth/login: /api/* should always be proxy redirected to http://localhost:3000/ cause there's no static file to serve under /api

Constraint

The problem is, that using something like this to redirect to the API:

location / {
  try_files $uri @backend;
}

Is not compatible with the AngularJS index.html rewrite:

location / {
  try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html =404;
}

location /app/ {
  try_files $uri $uri/ /app/index.html =404;
}

And if I specify a /api location, Nginx overwrite it with the / location ...

What can I do here ?

Solution

I found the right configuration, I think I tested it before posting here but as nginx was redirecting https://example.com/api/login/auth on http://locahost:3000/api/login/auth and not http://locahost:3000/login/auth, I was getting 404s from Express, so I thought they came from Nginx ... I'm just "stupid as stupid does" ...

Thanks for your help Tarun !

Here is the good configuration (which is really basic):

location /api {
    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;

    # Fix the "It appears that your reverse proxy set up is broken" error.
    proxy_pass          http://localhost:3000;
    proxy_read_timeout  90;

    proxy_redirect      http://localhost:3000 https://example.com/api/;
}

location / {
    try_files \$uri \$uri/ /index.html =404;
}

location /app/ {
    try_files \$uri \$uri/ /app/index.html =404;
}

Answered By - Pierre C.