In my previous post, Simplifying Redirect Management in Sitecore XM Cloud with Next.js and Vercel Edge Config, I explored how Vercel Edge Config can completely transform how we manage redirects in Sitecore XM Cloud. Traditionally, redirects have lived inside Sitecore – often stored as content items or within custom redirect modules – which works well until scale, speed, and operational agility become priorities.
That’s where Vercel Edge Config steps in. By managing redirects at the edge, we can push this logic closer to users, reduce load on Sitecore instances, and make updates instantly available without redeployments. The result is faster performance, easier maintenance, and a cleaner separation of content from infrastructure logic.
In this short follow-up, I will walk you through a step-by-step migration path from auditing your current redirects to validating, deploying, and maintaining them on Vercel Edge Config. Along the way, I will share practical tips, lessons learned, and common pitfalls to watch out for during the migration process.
Audit Existing Redirects
- Export all existing redirects from Sitecore or any external sources where they might be managed.
- Identify and remove obsolete redirects, especially those pointing to pages that no longer exist or have already been redirected elsewhere.
- Combine duplicate or overlapping entries to ensure a single source of truth for each URL.
- Validate destination URLs – make sure they’re live and resolve correctly.
- Categorize by purpose – for example, marketing redirects, content migration redirects, or structural redirects.
- If you want to store them separately, you can even use different Edge Config stores for each category. This approach can make management easier and reduce the risk of accidental overrides – I have demonstrated this setup in my previous blog.
- Keep it simple – since we’re dealing with static one-to-one redirects, focus on maintaining clean mappings that are easy to review and maintain.
Define a Flexible JSON Schema
Once you have audited and cleaned up your redirects, the next step is to decide how they will be structured and stored in Edge Config. Unlike Sitecore, where redirects might be stored as content items or within a module, Edge Config uses a key-value data model, which makes JSON the most natural format for managing redirects efficiently.
The goal here is to define a clear and reusable JSON schema that represents your redirects consistently – simple enough to maintain manually, yet flexible enough to scale across multiple environments or stores.
Here’s the schema I used in my implementation:
{
"/old-page": {
"destination": "/new-page",
"permanent": true
},
"/legacy-section": {
"destination": "/resources",
"permanent": false
}
}
- Each key (for example, “/old-page”) is the source path that should be redirected.
- Each value contains two properties:
- destination – the target path where the request should redirect.
- permanent – a boolean flag (true or false) that determines whether the redirect should use a 308 (permanent) or 307 (temporary) status code.
Automate the Export
Once you’ve finalized your redirect list and defined your JSON structure, the next step is to automate the conversion process — so you can easily transform your audited data into the format that Vercel Edge Config expects.
In my implementation, I created a C# console application that automates this step. The tool takes a simple CSV file as input and converts it into the JSON format used by Edge Config.
The CSV file includes three columns: source, destination, permanent. The application reads this CSV and generates a JSON file in the format mentioned in the above section. You can find the complete source code and instructions for this utility on my GitHub repository here: ConvertCsvToJson
- You can collect and audit redirects collaboratively in a CSV format, which non-developers can easily work with.
- Once finalized, simply run the console application to convert the CSV into JSON and upload it to Vercel Edge Config.
- If you have multiple redirect categories or stores, you can generate separate JSON files for each using different input CSVs.
Validate & Test
Before you roll out your new redirect setup, it’s important to thoroughly validate and test the data and the middleware behavior. This stage ensures your redirects work exactly as expected once they’re moved to Vercel Edge Config.
A solid validation process will help you catch issues early – like typos in paths, invalid destinations, or accidental redirect loops – while maintaining confidence in your migration.
- Validate that your JSON is correctly formatted, follows your destination + permanent schema, starts with /, and contains no duplicates.
- Test redirects locally using the JSON generated from your console app to ensure redirects fire correctly, status codes behave as expected, and unmatched URLs load normally.
- Check for redirect loops or chains so no route redirects back to itself or creates multiple hops.
- Upload to a preview/test environment and repeat the tests to confirm the middleware works the same with the actual Edge Config store
Gradual Rollout
Once your redirects have been validated locally and in your preview environment, the next step is to roll them out safely and incrementally. The advantage of using Vercel Edge Config is that updates propagate globally within seconds – but that’s exactly why taking a controlled, phased approach is important.
After validating your redirects, roll them out gradually to avoid unexpected issues in production. Begin by deploying your Next.js middleware and Edge Config integration to a preview/test environment. This helps confirm that the application is fetching from the correct store and that updates in Edge Config appear instantly without redeployments.
Once everything looks stable, publish your redirect JSON to the production Edge Config store. Changes propagate globally within seconds, but it’s still good practice to test a few key URLs immediately. If you have logging or analytics set up (such as Analytics or custom logs), monitor request patterns for any unusual spikes, new 404s, or unexpected redirect hits.
If you’re using multiple Edge Config stores, roll them out one at a time to keep things isolated and easier to debug.
And always keep a simple rollback plan – because Edge Config maintains backup- it creates a backup each time the json is updated, you can always rollback to the previous version, with no redeploy required.
Monitor & Maintain
Once your redirects are live in Vercel Edge Config, it’s important to keep an eye on how they behave over time. Redirects aren’t a “set and forget” feature especially on sites that evolve frequently.
Use logging, analytics, or Vercel’s built-in monitoring to watch for patterns like unexpected 404s, high redirect activity, or missed routes. These signals can help you identify gaps in your redirect set or highlight URLs that need cleanup.
Review and update your redirect JSON regularly. Legacy redirects may become irrelevant as site structures change, so a quick quarterly cleanup helps keep things lean. And since your JSON is version-controlled, maintaining and rolling back changes stays simple and predictable.
If you use multiple Edge Config stores, make sure the separation stays intentional. Periodically check that each store contains only the redirects meant for it—this avoids duplication and keeps your redirect logic easy to understand.
Consistent monitoring ensures your redirect strategy remains accurate, fast, and aligned with your site’s current structure.
Migrating redirects from Sitecore to Vercel Edge Config isn’t just a technical shift – it’s an opportunity to simplify how your site handles routing, clean up years of legacy entries, and move this logic to a place thats faster, cleaner, and easier to maintain. With a thoughtful audit, a clear JSON structure, and an automated export process, the migration becomes surprisingly smooth.
As you move forward, keep an eye on the small details: avoid accidental loops, stay consistent with your paths, and use the permanent flag intentionally. A few mindful checks during rollout and a bit of monitoring afterward go a long way in keeping your redirect setup predictable and high-performing.
Ultimately, this approach not only modernizes how redirects are handled in an XM Cloud setup – it also gives you a structured, version-controlled system that’s flexible for future changes and scalable as your site evolves. Its a clean foundation you can build on confidently.
