diff --git a/config/nginx.conf.template b/config/nginx.conf.template
index 76521d5..386a13a 100644
--- a/config/nginx.conf.template
+++ b/config/nginx.conf.template
@@ -17,7 +17,23 @@ http {
         index index.php index.html index.htm;
 
         location / {
-            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
+            # Try global root first, fallback to @project_fallback if not found
+            error_page 404 = @project_fallback;
+            try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
+        }
+
+        # Handle root-relative asset requests from project folders
+        location @project_fallback {
+            # Skip for common non-project paths
+            if ($uri ~* ^/(favicon\.ico|phpmyadmin|admin)) {
+                return 404;
+            }
+            # Capture project slug from Referer header (e.g., http://localhost/my-project/...)
+            if ($http_referer ~* "^https?://[^/]+/([^/]+)/") {
+                set $proj_slug $1;
+                rewrite ^(.*)$ /$proj_slug$1 last;
+            }
+            return 404;
         }
 
         {{PROJECTS}}