diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fde84719..decfffb3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ Changelog", this file is a reverse-chronological list of merged pull requests.
 
 ## Open PR's
 
+- [PR-163](https://github.com/itk-dev/devops_itkdev-docker/pull/163) - 2026-11-04 -
+  The Drupal and Symfony nginx configs include project-specific server config
+  from `.docker/templates/server.d/*.conf.template`, so project rules survive
+  `template:update`. Move project changes in `default.conf.template` there
 - [PR-162](https://github.com/itk-dev/devops_itkdev-docker/pull/162) - 2026-11-02 -
   Switched the Drupal, Symfony and Drupal module templates to PHP 8.5. The
   `drupal-10` template stays on PHP 8.4, as Drupal 10 does not support 8.5
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 47006118..1621caae 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -54,6 +54,18 @@ Run `itkdev-docker-compose template:install drupal-10`, say, to install or updat
 In addition to the docker compose setup for our projects, installing a template will also add GitHib Actions workflow
 files to a project; see [Github Actions templates](docs/github-actions-templates.md) for details.
 
+Updating a template overwrites the template files in the project. Keep project-specific changes in files the template
+does not ship:
+
+- `docker-compose.override.yml` and `docker-compose.server.override.yml` for docker compose
+- `.docker/templates/server.d/*.conf.template` for nginx (Drupal and Symfony templates). These are included in the
+  `server` block, and environment variables are substituted as in `default.conf.template`, e.g.
+
+  ```nginx
+  # .docker/templates/server.d/app-path-prefix.conf.template
+  rewrite ^${APP_PATH_PREFIX}/(.*) /$1 break;
+  ```
+
 ### Docker commands
 
 Start containers: `docker-compose up -d`
diff --git a/templates/drupal/.docker/templates/default.conf.template b/templates/drupal/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
index e77213bd..56b8acf1 100644
--- a/templates/drupal/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
+++ b/templates/drupal/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ server {
     real_ip_recursive on;
     real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
 
+    # Project-specific server config (.docker/templates/server.d/*.conf.template).
+    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/server.d/*.conf;
+
     location = /cron-metrics {
         # Proxy to supercronic metrics
         proxy_pass http://${NGINX_CRON_METRICS}/metrics;
diff --git a/templates/symfony/.docker/templates/default.conf.template b/templates/symfony/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
index 36ddf049..8152d19f 100644
--- a/templates/symfony/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
+++ b/templates/symfony/.docker/templates/default.conf.template
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ server {
     real_ip_recursive on;
     real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
 
+    # Project-specific server config (.docker/templates/server.d/*.conf.template).
+    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/server.d/*.conf;
+
     location = /cron-metrics {
         # Proxy to supercronic metrics
         proxy_pass http://${NGINX_CRON_METRICS}/metrics;