Crystal Ball checks covered
REDIRECT_LOOP, TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS, CLEAN_URL_REWRITE_CONFLICT
Guide detail
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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 route should settle on one canonical final URL instead of cycling between variants.
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 uses as few public redirects as practical and ends consistently on the intended 200 response. The final HTML should be the real page, not a bare Apache error document or a branded 404 returned with the wrong status.
- 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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