Use when designing URL structures, slug generation, SEO-friendly URLs, redirects, or localized URL patterns. Covers route configuration, URL rewriting, canonical URLs, and routing APIs for headless CMS.
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Guidance for designing URL structures, slug generation, and routing strategies for headless CMS architectures.
/ # Home /about # About page /about/team # Team (child of About) /about/team/leadership # Leadership (grandchild) /products # Products listing /products/software # Software category /products/software/crm # Specific product
/blog # Blog listing /blog/2025/01/my-article # Blog post with date /blog/my-article # Blog post without date /docs # Documentation home /docs/getting-started # Doc section /docs/getting-started/install # Doc page /team/jane-doe # Team member profile /portfolio/project-alpha # Portfolio item
/products/software/crm # Category > Product /blog/technology/ai-trends # Category > Post /help/faq/billing # Section > Topic
public class SlugService { public string GenerateSlug(string text, SlugOptions? options = null) { options ??= new SlugOptions(); var slug = text .ToLowerInvariant() .Normalize(NormalizationForm.FormD); // Remove diacritics slug = new string(slug .Where(c => CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(c) != UnicodeCategory.NonSpacingMark) .ToArray()); // Replace spaces and invalid chars slug = Regex.Replace(slug, @"[^a-z0-9\s-]", ""); slug = Regex.Replace(slug, @"\s+", "-"); slug = Regex.Replace(slug, @"-+", "-"); slug = slug.Trim('-'); // Enforce max length if (slug.Length > options.MaxLength) { slug = slug.Substring(0, options.MaxLength).TrimEnd('-'); } return slug; } public async Task<string> GenerateUniqueSlugAsync( string text, string contentType, Guid? excludeId = null) { var baseSlug = GenerateSlug(text); var slug = baseSlug; var counter = 1; while (await SlugExistsAsync(slug, contentType, excludeId)) { slug = $"{baseSlug}-{counter}"; counter++; } return slug; } } public class SlugOptions { public int MaxLength { get; set; } = 100; public bool AllowUnicode { get; set; } = false; public string Separator { get; set; } = "-"; }
public class AutorouteSettings { public string Pattern { get; set; } = string.Empty; public bool AllowCustom { get; set; } = true; public bool ShowHomepageOption { get; set; } } // Pattern examples: // "{ContentType}/{Slug}" -> /article/my-title // "{Category.Slug}/{Slug}" -> /technology/my-article // "blog/{CreatedUtc.Year}/{Slug}" -> /blog/2025/my-article // "{Parent.Path}/{Slug}" -> /about/team/leadership public class AutorouteService { public string GeneratePath(ContentItem item, string pattern) { var path = pattern; // Replace tokens path = path.Replace("{Slug}", item.Slug); path = path.Replace("{ContentType}", item.ContentType.ToLower()); path = path.Replace("{CreatedUtc.Year}", item.CreatedUtc.Year.ToString()); path = path.Replace("{CreatedUtc.Month}", item.CreatedUtc.Month.ToString("00")); // Handle relationships if (path.Contains("{Category.Slug}") && item.CategoryId.HasValue) { var category = _categoryRepository.Get(item.CategoryId.Value); path = path.Replace("{Category.Slug}", category?.Slug ?? "uncategorized"); } // Handle parent path if (path.Contains("{Parent.Path}") && item.ParentId.HasValue) { var parent = _contentRepository.Get(item.ParentId.Value); path = path.Replace("{Parent.Path}", parent?.Path ?? ""); } // Normalize path path = "/" + path.Trim('/').ToLowerInvariant(); return path; } }
public class Redirect { public Guid Id { get; set; } public string FromPath { get; set; } = string.Empty; public string ToPath { get; set; } = string.Empty; public RedirectType Type { get; set; } public bool IsRegex { get; set; } public bool PreserveQueryString { get; set; } public DateTime? ExpiresUtc { get; set; } } public enum RedirectType { Permanent = 301, // Moved permanently (SEO transfers) Temporary = 302, // Found (temporary redirect) SeeOther = 303, // See other (POST to GET) TemporaryRedirect = 307, // Temporary (preserves method) PermanentRedirect = 308 // Permanent (preserves method) }
public class ContentUpdateHandler { public async Task HandleSlugChangeAsync( Guid contentId, string oldPath, string newPath) { if (oldPath == newPath) return; // Create redirect from old to new var redirect = new Redirect { Id = Guid.NewGuid(), FromPath = oldPath, ToPath = newPath, Type = RedirectType.Permanent, PreserveQueryString = true }; await _redirectRepository.AddAsync(redirect); // Update any existing redirects pointing to old path var existingRedirects = await _redirectRepository .GetByToPathAsync(oldPath); foreach (var existing in existingRedirects) { existing.ToPath = newPath; await _redirectRepository.UpdateAsync(existing); } } }
| Strategy | Example | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Path prefix | | Clear, SEO-friendly | Longer URLs |
| Subdomain | | Separate hosting | Complex setup |
| Query param | | Simple | Poor SEO |
| Translated slugs | | Natural | Hard to manage |
public class LocalizedRoutingService { private readonly string[] _supportedLocales = { "en", "fr", "de", "es" }; private readonly string _defaultLocale = "en"; public string GetLocalizedPath(string path, string locale) { // Remove existing locale prefix var cleanPath = RemoveLocalePrefix(path); // Add new locale prefix (skip for default) if (locale != _defaultLocale) { return $"/{locale}{cleanPath}"; } return cleanPath; } public (string path, string locale) ParseLocalizedPath(string requestPath) { foreach (var locale in _supportedLocales) { if (requestPath.StartsWith($"/{locale}/") || requestPath == $"/{locale}") { var path = requestPath.Substring(locale.Length + 1); return (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path) ? "/" : path, locale); } } return (requestPath, _defaultLocale); } }
public class HreflangService { public List<HreflangTag> GenerateHreflangTags( ContentItem content, string baseUrl) { var tags = new List<HreflangTag>(); // Get all localized versions var localizations = _localizationService .GetLocalizedVersions(content.Id); foreach (var loc in localizations) { tags.Add(new HreflangTag { Hreflang = loc.Locale, Href = $"{baseUrl}{GetLocalizedPath(content.Path, loc.Locale)}" }); } // Add x-default tags.Add(new HreflangTag { Hreflang = "x-default", Href = $"{baseUrl}{content.Path}" }); return tags; } } public class HreflangTag { public string Hreflang { get; set; } = string.Empty; public string Href { get; set; } = string.Empty; }
public class CanonicalUrlService { public string GetCanonicalUrl(HttpRequest request, ContentItem content) { var baseUrl = $"{request.Scheme}://{request.Host}"; // Use content's primary path as canonical var canonicalPath = content.PrimaryPath ?? content.Path; // Remove query parameters (unless paginated) // Normalize trailing slash return $"{baseUrl}{canonicalPath}"; } }
public class UrlNormalizer { public string Normalize(string url, NormalizationOptions options) { var uri = new UriBuilder(url); // Lowercase path uri.Path = uri.Path.ToLowerInvariant(); // Handle trailing slash if (options.TrailingSlash == TrailingSlashBehavior.Remove) { uri.Path = uri.Path.TrimEnd('/'); } else if (options.TrailingSlash == TrailingSlashBehavior.Add && !uri.Path.EndsWith('/')) { uri.Path += '/'; } // Sort query parameters if (options.SortQueryParams && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(uri.Query)) { var queryParams = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(uri.Query); var sorted = queryParams.AllKeys .OrderBy(k => k) .Select(k => $"{k}={queryParams[k]}"); uri.Query = string.Join("&", sorted); } return uri.ToString(); } } public class NormalizationOptions { public TrailingSlashBehavior TrailingSlash { get; set; } public bool SortQueryParams { get; set; } public bool ForceLowercase { get; set; } = true; } public enum TrailingSlashBehavior { Remove, Add, Preserve }
GET /api/routes/resolve?path=/about/team # Resolve path to content GET /api/redirects # List redirects GET /api/sitemap.xml # XML sitemap POST /api/slugs/generate # Generate slug from text POST /api/slugs/validate # Check slug availability
{ "data": { "path": "/about/team", "contentId": "page-456", "contentType": "Page", "locale": "en", "canonical": "https://example.com/about/team", "alternates": [ { "hreflang": "fr", "href": "https://example.com/fr/a-propos/equipe" }, { "hreflang": "de", "href": "https://example.com/de/uber-uns/team" } ], "breadcrumbs": [ { "label": "Home", "path": "/" }, { "label": "About", "path": "/about" }, { "label": "Team", "path": "/about/team" } ] } }
page-structure-designnavigation-architectureheadless-api-design