How to allow wordpress site to display standalone HTML pages?

Question

this is my WP htaccess

RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

i want wordpress' htaccess to stay out of the way when the link is to a standalone .html|.htm file inside the /ag directory.

RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/ag
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

doesnt work (i am aware the above code doesnt even try to implement the requirement that the file ends in .html|.htm). what do I need?

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The original rewrite conditions only rewrite if the file does not exist, and is not a directory.

Therefore if you have the file in a directory, there should be no rewrite happening.

Answer 2

Simeon's last comment nailed it. it turns out the file being requested had been deleted. the default rewrite rules do not need an exception when the file actually exists.

thanks!