diff --git a/nginx.template.conf b/nginx.template.conf
index 97f4357..9c17350 100644
--- a/nginx.template.conf
+++ b/nginx.template.conf
@@ -1,164 +1,70 @@
-# upstream php {
-#     server unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
-# }
 worker_processes 5;
 daemon off;
 
-worker_rlimit_nofile 8192;
-
 events {
-  worker_connections  4096;  # Default: 1024
+  worker_connections 4096;
 }
 
 http {
+    # Include standard MIME types
     include    $!{nginx}/conf/mime.types;
-        index    index.html index.php index.htm;
-
+    
+    # Set default type
     default_type application/octet-stream;
-    log_format   main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local]  $status '
-        '"$request" $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
-        '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
+    
+    # Logging
     access_log /dev/stdout;
     error_log /dev/stdout;
-    sendfile     on;
-    tcp_nopush   on;
-    server_names_hash_bucket_size 128; # this seems to be required for some vhosts
+    
+    # Optimization
+    sendfile on;
+    tcp_nopush on;
+    server_names_hash_bucket_size 128;
 
     server {
         listen ${PORT};
         listen [::]:${PORT};
         server_name localhost;
-
+        
+        # Set the root to the app directory
         root /app;
-        # Block access to hidden files and directories
-        location ~ /\. {
-            deny all;
-        }
+        
+        # KEY FIX: Add index.html to the index directive so the root loads
+        index index.html index.php;
+        
+        charset utf-8;
 
-        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
-        add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";
-
-        index index.php;
-
-
-        # Static files for root directory
+        # Root location for the static landing page
         location / {
-            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html =404;
-
-            # Expires headers for static assets
-            location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot|bmp|webp|cur)$ {
-                expires 1y;
-                add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
-            }
-
-            # No cache for HTML
-            location ~* \.(html)$ {
-                expires 0;
-                add_header Cache-Control "no-cache";
-            }
-
-            # No cache for data interchange
-            location ~* \.(json|xml|jsonld|rdf|rss|atom|geojson|topojson|vtt|webmanifest|appcache)$ {
-                expires 0;
-                add_header Cache-Control "no-cache";
-            }
-
-            # No cache for PDFs
-            location ~* \.(pdf)$ {
-                expires 0;
-                add_header Cache-Control "no-cache";
-            }
-
-            # 1 hour for web feeds
-            location ~* \.(rss|atom)$ {
-                expires 1h;
-                add_header Cache-Control "public";
-            }
+            # Try to serve the file directly, then the directory, then 404
+            try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
         }
 
-        # Static assets for pancake/third_party
-        location /pancake/third_party {
-            alias /app/pancake/third_party;
-            expires 1y;
-            add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
-
-            # MIME types
-            location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot|bmp|webp|cur|flv|mp4|ogv|webm|swf)$ {
-                expires 1y;
-                add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
-            }
-        }
-
-        # PHP application for /pancake with pretty URLs
+        # Pancake App Logic
+        # No 'alias' needed for static assets because they live in /app/pancake/third_party
+        # which matches the URI structure relative to root /app
+        
         location /pancake {
-            # First try to serve the requested file/directory, then fallback to index.php
             try_files $uri $uri/ @pancake_fallback;
         }
 
-        # Fallback location for Pancake pretty URLs
         location @pancake_fallback {
-            rewrite ^.*$ /pancake/index.php last;
+            rewrite ^ /pancake/index.php last;
         }
 
-        # Handle PHP files
-
+        # PHP Processing
         location ~ \.php$ {
+            try_files $uri =404;
             fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
             fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
             include $!{nginx}/conf/fastcgi_params;
+            # fastcgi.conf often duplicates params but is safer to include if available
             include $!{nginx}/conf/fastcgi.conf;
         }
-
-        # Gzip compression
-        gzip on;
-        gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript application/x-javascript application/atom+xml application/rss+xml application/ld+json application/manifest+json application/vnd.geo+json font/opentype image/svg+xml;
-
-        # Security headers
-        add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
-        add_header X-UA-Compatible "IE=edge";
-
-        # UTF-8 encoding
-        charset utf-8;
-
-        # MIME types
-        types {
-            application/atom+xml atom;
-            application/json json map topojson;
-            application/ld+json jsonld;
-            application/rss+xml rss;
-            application/vnd.geo+json geojson;
-            application/xml rdf xml;
-            application/javascript js;
-            application/manifest+json webmanifest;
-            application/x-web-app-manifest+json webapp;
-            text/cache-manifest appcache;
-            audio/mp4 f4a f4b m4a;
-            audio/ogg oga ogg opus;
-            image/bmp bmp;
-            image/svg+xml svg svgz;
-            image/webp webp;
-            video/mp4 f4v f4p m4v mp4;
-            video/ogg ogv;
-            video/webm webm;
-            video/x-flv flv;
-            image/x-icon cur ico;
-            application/font-woff woff;
-            application/font-woff2 woff2;
-            application/vnd.ms-fontobject eot;
-            application/x-font-ttf ttc ttf;
-            font/opentype otf;
-            application/octet-stream safariextz;
-            application/x-bb-appworld bbaw;
-            application/x-chrome-extension crx;
-            application/x-opera-extension oex;
-            application/x-xpinstall xpi;
-            text/vcard vcard vcf;
-            text/vnd.rim.location.xloc xloc;
-            text/vtt vtt;
-            text/x-component htc;
+        
+        # Security: Deny hidden files
+        location ~ /\. {
+            deny all;
         }
-
-        # Error pages
-        error_page 404 /404.html;
     }
 }