Crystal Ball checks covered

REDIRECT_LOOP, TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS, CLEAN_URL_REWRITE_CONFLICT

What this warning means

Crystal Ball should flag this when repeated browser-like requests never settle on a final 200 page. The common symptom is ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS, but the underlying problem is usually a rule conflict.

  • Clean URL rewrites can conflict with slash rules, host rules, HTTPS rules, or physical directories.
  • A valid public page should resolve to one canonical final URL and then stop.

Common causes

The most common causes are duplicate slash canonicalization rules, physical directories that fight with flat-file routes, host-level HTTPS settings that conflict with .htaccess, and old extension-removal rules that rewrite already-rewritten URLs.

  • Disable MultiViews for flat-file clean URLs.
  • Avoid deploying a physical directory when .htaccess is serving that route from a flat file.
  • Make 404 documents and known routes terminal with END where Apache supports it.

How to fix it

Start by tracing one URL at a time. Test http, https, www, non-www, slash, no-slash, and .html versions. Then remove any rule that tries to canonicalize a URL after it has already been internally rewritten.

  • Put host and HTTPS redirects before internal rewrites.
  • Serve known static pages directly instead of relying on broad existence checks.
  • Never rewrite the custom 404 document during error handling.
  • After changes, test in a fresh browser profile and with a redirect trace.

How to verify

A clean result should show at most one public 301 before the final 200. The final HTML should be the intended page, not a bare Apache error document.

  • Check the response headers.
  • Check the final URL in the browser.
  • Run Crystal Ball again with browser-like repeat checks enabled.

FAQ

Can a redirect loop be caused by caching?

Caching can make an old loop appear to persist, but a true redirect loop is usually caused by server routing or rewrite configuration.

Should clean URLs use physical folders?

They can, but flat-file sites are often simpler when clean URLs are mapped directly to known HTML files and conflicting physical directories are avoided.

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