What does the fastly error message mean when trying to host a component of my site (/en/privacy-policy) on Webflow using an nginx reverse proxy?

You're receiving a Fastly error message when accessing /en/privacy-policy because Webflow's hosting uses Fastly as its CDN, and certain configurations involving reverse proxies (like NGINX) can cause conflicts or blocked requests.

1. Understand What the Fastly Error Means

• Fastly is the CDN provider used by Webflow, and error messages from it often indicate that a request was blocked, misrouted, or missing required headers.
• The most common causes include:
• Mismatched host headers
• Requests originating from unauthorized IPs
• Missing required URL paths or parameters
• Rate limiting or restrictions by Webflow’s backend/CDN

2. Identify the Specific Fastly Error Code

• The error message (e.g., 403 Forbidden, 503 Service Unavailable, etc.) will give clues:
• 403 Forbidden: Often due to incorrect or missing Host headers or blocked IPs.
• 503 Service Unavailable: May occur if the origin (Webflow) is unreachable or your reverse proxy is sending malformed requests.

3. Review Your NGINX Reverse Proxy Config

• Ensure you're preserving Host headers:
• Webflow (via Fastly) expects the proper Host header to match your Webflow domain or custom domain configured in Project Settings.
• Avoid rewriting paths unless necessary:
• If your reverse proxy is altering the path structure (e.g., changing /en/privacy-policy to /privacy-policy), Webflow will return a 404 or error via Fastly.
• Add the following to the proxy configuration:
• Preserve all headers (Host, X-Forwarded-Host, etc.)
• Use HTTP/HTTPS correctly—Webflow requires HTTPS for most traffic.

4. Check Whether the Path is Published in Webflow

• Make sure /en/privacy-policy is a published page in your Webflow project.
• Webflow does not allow loading unpublished paths or CMS-generated paths unless they are correctly routed and visible in your sitemap.

5. Avoid Using Reverse Proxies to Servce Only Parts of a Webflow Site

• Webflow does not officially support partial integration via reverse proxies (e.g., only proxying /en/privacy-policy from a Webflow site into a separate site).
• These setups can trigger CDN restrictions or path resolution errors.
• Instead, consider:
• Hosting the entire site on Webflow, or
• Exporting Webflow static HTML (not suitable for CMS features) and integrating manually.

Summary

The Fastly error you're seeing when reverse proxying /en/privacy-policy is likely caused by incorrect headers, mismatched paths, or an unsupported partial proxy setup. Webflow’s CDN expects full requests with correct headers and doesn't officially support serving only site components via reverse proxy.