SPA Redirects on Netlify Without a _redirects File

When deploying a single-page application to Netlify, you need a catch-all redirect so that client-side routing works on direct navigation and page refreshes. The typical approach is to add a _redirects file to your public directory:

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/* /index.html 200

But there's a simpler option -- generate it at build time by chaining an echo onto your build command in the Netlify UI:

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npm run build && echo "/* /index.html 200" > dist/_redirects

This appends a step after your build that writes the _redirects file directly into the output directory. No extra file to maintain in your repo, no Netlify plugin needed, and no netlify.toml required.

Link to this sectionWhy this works

Netlify runs whatever you put in the Build command field as a shell command. By chaining with &&, the redirect file only gets created if the build succeeds. Netlify then picks up _redirects from the publish directory (dist/) automatically.

Link to this sectionAdjust for your setup

If your framework outputs to a different directory, swap dist/ accordingly:

• Vite / Astro: dist/
• Next.js (static export): out/
• Create React App: build/

That's it. One line, zero config files.