How do I configure nginx for WordPress REST API in sub-folder?

Question

I am trying to set up multiple Wordpress sites in sub-folders under our domain (ie not multi-site), but I have difficulty configuring the REST API endpoints. For example, this endpoint works fine:

https://example.com/site1/?rest_route=/wp/v2/posts

But this endpoint gives a 404:

https://example.com/site1/wp-json/wp/v2/posts

I have tried to rewrite the failing url to the working url with these rules in my nginx configuration:

location /site1/wp-json {
    rewrite ^/site1/wp-json(.*)$ /site1/?rest_route=$1;
}

location /site1/ {
   try_files $uri $uri/ /site1/index.php$is_args$args;
}

I can't see any special handling of wp-json in the WordPress docs or the nginx wiki. What am I missing here? The permalinks for the site is set to Numeric (https://example.com/site1/archives/123) if that might play a role.

Update

Gist of the redacted full config file and the config syntax lints okay:

nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf -t

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Linkman

Can you show the full config? – Stylish

I've seen the rewrite line with the last flag at the end. Maybe that is what is missing? – Insulin

Thanks @TarunLalwani I have just tried with adding last and also rearranging the order of the two rewrite rules, but it didn't fix the 404 – Linkman

@JannieTheunissen, I would like to see the full config to be able to comment on something. Currently, just these two lines don't help me – Stylish

A gist of the full config coming up. I just need to redact a bunch of things in there – Linkman

@TarunLalwani I added the full config – Linkman

Do you need both rewrite rules? Why not just the location /site1/. That should set the pretty permalinks for the whole install, including the wp-json endpoints, no? As opposed to trying to rewrite the root, and a subdirectory. – Bottali

@Bottali I agree that logically we shouldn't need both, but I added the specific wp-json one because that route fails. Maybe it is caused by some of the other multi-site rules in the config? I just don't know enough nginx to spot it. – Linkman

@JannieTheunissen debug rewrite may help – Distinguish

@JannieTheunissen writing the pretty permalinks should effect the entire install, including the endpoints. That is why your other endpoint call works with the query string, which is the default. I also noticed you have an "$is_args$args" as part of it. This could be fine, but if you just tried "?$args" instead. – Bottali

@JannieTheunissen, lets discuss this over the gist so commenting code is easier – Stylish

@JannieTheunissen did you ever get it to work? Running into the same issue. Odd thing is that I was able to get custom routes working with a couple of different methods: rewrite ^/wordpress/wp-json/(.*?)$ /wordpress/index.php?rest_route=/$1 last; and/or try_files $uri $uri/ /wordpress/index.php?$args /wordpress/index.php?q=$uri&$args; But default routes like wp-json/wp/v2/pages return an empty array. – Chromogenic

Answer 1

I just hit this too, in WP 5.7. Without pretty permalinks, ie with the "Plain" option like ?p=123, my nginx WP installation uses requests like:

/index.php?rest_route=/wp/v2/users/&who=authors...

And these all work fine.

However if I enable pretty permalinks, eg "Post name", /sample-post/, it starts making requests like:

/wp-json/wp/v2/users/?who=authors...

And these all return a 404. For example, editing or publishing posts fails, and browser devtools shows a string of 404s in this format.

But now we know the pattern that works, a solution is clear - we just need to map the not-working format to the working format:

# Resolves WP Gutenberg 404 issue
location /wp-json {
    rewrite ^/wp-json(.*)$ /index.php?rest_route=$1 last;
}

Halftrack

Answer 2

I was able to resolve it like this:

location /wordpress/ {
  rewrite ^/wordpress/wp-json/(.*?)$ /wordpress/index.php?rest_route=/$1 last;
}

Chromogenic

I somehow missed your answer before posting mine - this works for me, +1. I'm leaving my answer as I go into more detail about how/why it works, which might be useful to others. I also think a location that more specifically targets just the URIs we want to modify would be better. – Portal

Answer 3

I believe that the rewrite directive should be written as shown below:

server {
    location /site1/wp-json
        {
            rewrite ^(/site1/wp-json.*)$ /site1/?rest_route=$1 last;
        }
}

Eveevection

Thanks Faham. I tried your solution, but it doesn't work. – Linkman

Can you please posts the results by running nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf -t in your terminal. – Eveevection

@JannieTheunissen there should be a site-enabled folder in your /etc/nginx can you check if there is any configuration file there? and if so, add the configurations over in that file. – Eveevection

There is two included configurations which I have merged into the gist to get the whole picture – Linkman

I know this is a very stupid question but after pondering for hours on your configuration file I am only left with the dumbest question of all. What is your website permalink setting? – Eveevection

Thanks for your effort Faham. The permalink setting is Numeric (see question) – Linkman

I thought so, its often the simplest of the things. Can you change your permalink to postname and check again. – Eveevection

I tried setting permalinks to postname and I still have the same problem. I saw numerous answers on SO where they suggest setting the permalinks to anything other than the default to resolve getting 404 on WordPress ajax calls – Linkman

Numeric permalink are never going to work as the rewrite will only work if pretty permalink are on. – Eveevection

Answer 4

An easy way if your website pages in the subfolder is already working, just add index.php to the url:

https://site1.com/site2/index.php/wp-json/

If your website pages still doesn't work in the subfolder, add this code to nginx/sites-available/website.conf file too:

location /site2 {
        rewrite ^(/[^/]+)?(/wp-.*) /site2/$2 break;
        rewrite ^/site2/(.*)$ /site2/index.php?q=$1 last;
}

Jedda

Answer 5

in WordPress RESTful API handbook, there is a description: We will learn how to register our own routes and endpoints in the following sections.

If you are using non-pretty permalinks, you should pass the REST API route as a query string parameter. The route http://oursite.com/wp-json/ in the example above would hence be http://oursite.com/?rest_route=/.

If you get a 404 error when trying to access http://oursite.com/wp-json/, consider enabling pretty permalinks or try using the rest_route parameter instead.

so, you need to rewrite https://yoursite.com/site1/wp-json/wp/v2/posts to https://yoursite.com/site1/?rest_route=/wp/v2/posts

the correct nginx solution is:

location ~ ^/site1/wp-json/ {
   rewrite ^/site1/wp-json/(.*?)$ /site1/index.php?rest_route=/$1 last;
}

---

please note do not forget "=/"

Clasp