Wordpress Nginx returns 404 robots.txt

Latest CMM
AlmaLinux 8.x
Latest Nginx

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Am using the AIOSEO plugin (but dont think its this) as it uses the native WP robots.txt virtual file

So

Code:

https://mydomain.com/robots.txt returns a 404

https://mydomain.com/?robots=1 returns the robots.txt file

https://mydomain.com/index.php?robots=1 goes to https://mydomain.com/?robots=1 and returns the robots.txt file

My config is here

Code:

  location / {
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/503include-only.conf;

  # Nginx level redis Wordpress
  # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
  try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;

  }

location ~* /(wp-login\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwplogin burst=1 nodelay;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}

location ~* /(xmlrpc\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwprpc burst=45 nodelay;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}

location ~* /(xmlrpc\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwprpc burst=45 nodelay;
    # https://jetpack.com/support/hosting-faq/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/jetpack_whitelist_ip.conf;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}

location ~* /wp-admin/(load-scripts\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwprpc burst=5 nodelay;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}

location ~* /wp-admin/(load-scripts\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwprpc burst=5 nodelay;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}

# HOTLINK PROTECTION
invalid_referer and return “403: Access Forbidden” response.
    location ~ .(gif|png|psd|tiff|eps|ai|raw|jpe?g)$ {
      valid_referers none blocked mydomain.co.uk;
          if ($invalid_referer) {
          return 403;
          }
    }

#To secure the admin area - if you have a static IP address allow only your IP and denay all other
    location /admin.php {
            include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php.conf;
            allow 127.0.0.1;
            allow IPS IN HERE;
            deny all;
    }

location ~* /wp-admin/(load-styles\.php) {
    limit_req zone=xwprpc burst=5 nodelay;

    # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
}
           

  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/wpincludes/xxxxxx.co.uk/wpsecure_xxxxxx.co.uk.conf;

  # https://community.centminmod.com/posts/18828/
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php-rediscache.conf;
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/pre-staticfiles-local-xxxxxx.co.uk.conf;
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/pre-staticfiles-global.conf;
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/staticfiles.conf;
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/drop.conf;
  include /usr/local/nginx/conf/vts_server.conf;
}

I have tried varies tryfiles and rewrites - including one that AIOSEO recommends

Nothing I try will display the robots.txt file - just gives a 404

Am I missing something ?

 

If I add this in the server block (before the first location) then it works

Code:

#AIOSEO robots.txt file redirect ro ?robots=1 for Wordpress
  rewrite ^/robots.txt$ /index.php?robots=1 last;
  rewrite ^/([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+)/robots.txt$ /$1/index.php?robots=1;

However I read somewhere rewrite isnt great and its better to use location and try files

However cant find a working solution