Error pages
๐ช Tiny, zero-dep HTTP server & Docker image serving pretty, themeable, localized HTTP error pages โ drop-in for Traefik, Nginx, Kubernetes, and more
> [!IMPORTANT] > If you were on v3 or earlier and want to upgrade to v4, check out the [migration guide](docs/UPGRADE_TO_V4.md). The project is written primarily in Go, distributed under the MIT License license, first published in 2020. It has gained significant community traction with 1,444 stars and 110 forks on GitHub. Key topics include: 404, 404-error-page, 404-pages, 404-template, docker.
[!IMPORTANT]
If you were on v3 or earlier and want to upgrade to v4, check out the migration guide.
If you ended up here, chances are you would like to replace your HTTP server's default error pages with something more
original and eye-catching. That is exactly what this project is designed for - it handles this with minimal effort
on your part.
It includes:
- A collection of HTTP error page designs (each with a unique look), along with the ability to use your own
custom templates - A lightweight HTTP server for serving these pages that integrates easily into your existing infrastructure
- A utility for pre-rendering static HTTP error pages
Key features:
- Both the HTTP server and the static generator are written in Go with zero third-party runtime dependencies
(stdlib only - hardcore mode)- Supports HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 (h2c - cleartext, no TLS required)
- Returns error responses in the appropriate format (HTML, JSON, XML, plain text) based on client requests
- Gzip compression for all response formats
- HTML pages support localization (15+ languages), responsive design (mobile-friendly), and are fully
self-contained - all styles and images are embedded directly in the HTML, without loading any external resources - Go template-based templating engine
- Ships as pre-built binaries, a minimal Docker image (rootless, scratch-based), and a ready-to-use Helm chart
for Kubernetes - Works out of the box with popular reverse proxies and ingress controllers (Nginx, Traefik, etc.)
๐ช Built-in templates
The following templates are built-in and available for use without any additional setup/files:
| Template name | Preview (light) | Preview (dark) |
|---|---|---|
app-down | ![]() | ![]() |
cats | ||
connection | ||
ghost | ||
hacker-terminal | ||
l7 | ||
lost-in-space | ||
noise | ||
orient | ||
shuffle | ||
win98 | ![]() | ![]() |
[!NOTE]
Thecatstemplate is the only one of those that fetches resources (the actual cat pictures) from external
servers - all other templates are self-contained.
[!TIP]
If you need the pre-rendered static error pages pack, you can download it as a zip or
tar.gz archive.
๐ Installation
Download the latest binary for your OS/architecture from the releases page, or use the Docker image:
| Registry | Image |
|---|---|
| GitHub Container Registry | ghcr.io/tarampampam/error-pages |
| Quay.io (mirror) | quay.io/tarampampam/error-pages |
| Docker Hub (mirror) | tarampampam/error-pages |
[!WARNING]
Using thelatesttag for Docker images is strongly discouraged, as it may introduce backward-incompatible changes
during major upgrades. Use versioned tags in theX,X.Y, orX.Y.Zformat instead.
[!IMPORTANT]
The app is distributed as two separate binaries -error-pages(HTTP server) andbuilder. Docker tags follow this
convention:
X.Y.Z(andX.Y,X) - includes the HTTP serverX.Y.Z-builder(andX.Y-builder,X-builder) - includes the builder and a pre-rendered error pages pack
Supported image architectures - linux/amd64, linux/arm/v7, linux/arm64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x.
All images are signed with Cosign using keyless signing (GitHub OIDC).
๐ฆ Helm chart
A Helm chart for Kubernetes is included with each release (download), published on
Artifact Hub, and also available via an OCI registry (Helm v3.8+ required):
shellhelm install error-pages \ oci://ghcr.io/tarampampam/error-pages/charts/error-pages \ --version X.Y.Z
All supported chart values, examples, and usage instructions can be found at Artifact Hub.
Helm chart sources are located in the deploy/helm directory of the repository.
๐ Integration guides
-
Standalone server or builder usage:
-
With Nginx:
-
With Caddy:
-
With Traefik:
-
With Kubernetes:
๐ฆพ Performance
Measured on loopback (127.0.0.1), single connection, no artificial load
(wrk -t1 -c1 -d5s --latency http://127.0.0.1:8080/..., less is better):
| Format | p50 (typical response time) | p90 (90% of responses complete within this time) |
|---|---|---|
| HTML | 121 ยตs | 262 ยตs |
| JSON | 51 ยตs | 75 ยตs |
| XML | 48 ยตs | 73 ยตs |
| Plain text | 47 ยตs | 68 ยตs |
| HTML + gzip | 2.4 ms | 3.1 ms |
| JSON + gzip | 256 ยตs | 510 ยตs |
[!NOTE]
HTML responses are large (full rendered template, ~65 KB), which is why gzip compression takes noticeably more
time there. JSON/XML/text are compact structured responses, so they are fastest overall.
๐ป Command-line usage
For detailed instructions on using the HTTP server and the static site generator, including all supported environment
variables and usage examples, check the CLI documentation.
๐ How the server handles requests
The three most important things to understand about how the server behaves - how it determines which error page to
show, which format to return, and what request context it can expose.
How the error code is resolved
The server picks the HTTP status code from the first matching source:
- Path:
/404,/404.html,/404.json,/503.xml, etc. X-Coderequest header- Default:
--default-error-page(orDEFAULT_ERROR_PAGE, default: 404)
How the response format is determined
The response format is picked from the first matching source:
- Path extension:
.html,.htm,.json,.xml,.txt Content-Typerequest headerX-Formatrequest header (e.g.X-Format: application/json)Acceptrequest header- Default: plain text
Supported formats: HTML, JSON, XML, plain text.
Service endpoints
The following HTTP endpoints can be used for health checks, monitoring, or other purposes:
| Path | Description |
|---|---|
/healthz, /health, /health/live, /live | Liveness probe - always returns 200 OK |
/version | Returns {"version":"..."} as JSON |
Response headers
Every error page response includes the following headers automatically:
| Header | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Content-Type | e.g. text/html; charset=utf-8 | Format-dependent |
Content-Length | Response body size in bytes | Always set |
X-Robots-Tag | noindex, nofollow, nosnippet, noarchive | Prevents error pages from being indexed |
Retry-After | 120 | Only for limited set of status codes |
Content-Encoding | gzip | Only when the client sends Accept-Encoding: gzip |
Headers listed in --proxy-headers (default: X-Request-Id, X-Trace-Id, X-Correlation-Id,
X-Amzn-Trace-Id) are copied from the incoming request to the response when present.
HTTP status code of the response
By default, the server always responds with HTTP 200, even when rendering error pages. This is the correct
behavior when a reverse proxy (Nginx, Traefik, ingress-nginx) intercepts upstream error responses and replaces
only the body - the proxy itself sends the original error status code back to the client.
When error-pages is used as a direct backend - e.g. a catch-all route, a Kubernetes default backend, or
standalone testing - it must return the correct status code itself. Enable --send-same-http-code
(or env SEND_SAME_HTTP_CODE=true) to make the HTTP response status match the error code being rendered.
๐ Templating and Localization
For detailed instructions on using custom templates and localization features, see the
templating documentation.
๐ง Development
Requirements
- Go 1.26+ for building from source and running tests
- Optional: golangci-lint for linting
- Optional: docker for testing
the Docker image locally - Optional: helm + kind + docker
for testing the Helm chart locally in Kubernetes - Optional: helm-docs for generating Helm chart documentation
- Optional: wrk for benchmarking the server performance
- Optional: watchexec for live reloading the server during
development
Commands:
shellgo generate -skip readme ./... # (re)generate code, except docs go generate ./... # (re)generate everything go build ./cmd/error-pages/ && go build ./cmd/builder/ # build both binaries go test -race ./... # run all tests golangci-lint run --fix # lint the code and apply any available auto fixes helm-docs -c ./deploy/helm/ -t README.tpl.md -o README.md # regenerate chart readme file # run a live reloading server (useful for testing template changes) watchexec -r -- go run ./cmd/error-pages/ --show-details # run before every vibe-coding session your_ai_tool --prompt "explain why AI Coding Agents are doing shit by default"
๐งโ๐คโ๐ง Contributors
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed to this project:
๐ค Contributing & AI-assisted development
Missing a feature? Found a bug you want fixed? Pull requests are welcome - and yes, you are explicitly invited to
try implementing it with an AI coding agent.
To give the agent a fighting chance at producing something that fits this codebase, the repo ships an
AGENTS.md - a structured reference covering project layout, build commands, code style, generated
files, hard prohibitions, and the full post-change workflow. It is written for the agent. Most modern agents
pick it up automatically.
Review every single changed line yourself. Understand it. Be able to defend it in code review. If you cannot
explain why a line is there and why it is correct, do not open the PR. "The agent wrote it" is not an answer.
The author of a PR is the human who opens it, not the model (at least, I hope so).
I write my own code by hand and encourage you to do the same when you can. AI is a tool, not an excuse to skip the
thinking. Trust, but verify - and verify hard.
๐พ Support
If you encounter any bugs in the project, please create an issue in this repository.
๐ License
This is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT License.
Contributors
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