---
title: Shielding VCL Rendering
summary: null
url: https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/changes/2023/08/vcl-changes
---

Changed how shielding VCL is rendered

Backends with [shielding](https://www.fastly.com/documentation/guides/concepts/shielding/) enabled are now emitted in VCL using a custom 'shield' director type that omits the formerly-required backend definitions. The result is significantly fewer lines are used to emit a shielding configuration. This change may be visible in the VCL diff tool.