---
title: Respond
description: Answers the requests of a location with a fixed response.
---
> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.page/luizfonseca/super/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Answers every request of a location with a fixed response, without reaching an upstream: a maintenance page, a `robots.txt`, a health check, or a `404`/`410` for paths that shouldn't be served.

## Options

| Name | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `status` | The status of the response, from `200` to `599` (default: `200`) |
| `body` | The body of the response (default: none) |
| `content_type` | Its `Content-Type`, such as `"text/plain"` or `"text/html; charset=utf-8"` (default: none) |
| `priority` | When it runs among the blocks of the location (default: `5`) |

### Usage

**config.hcl**
```hcl
host "example.com" {
  # Maintenance: every request gets a 503
  location "/" {
    upstream "localhost:3000" {}

    respond {
      status       = 503
      body         = "Back soon"
      content_type = "text/plain"
    }
  }

  location "/robots.txt" {
    respond {
      body         = "User-agent: *\nDisallow: /admin\n"
      content_type = "text/plain"
    }
  }
}
```

### Good to know

- A location with `respond` doesn't need an upstream. Keep the upstream (as above) to switch a maintenance page on and off by adding or removing `respond`: hosts are reloaded live.
- The location's [`headers`](/routing/headers) are added to the response, for example a `Retry-After` during maintenance.
- `rate_limit` (priority `0`) runs before it, and authentication (`20`) after it: set `priority` to change that.