project.conf

server {
  listen 80;
  index index.php;
  server_name new.project;
  
  # root directory
  # normal: /path/to/new.project/public
  root /path/to/new.project;

  # set url
  location /public/ {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /public/index.php?$query_string;
  }
  
  location /uploads/ {
    root /path/to/octobercms;
  }
  
  location ~* \.php$ {
    ...
  }
}