Domains
How hostnames reach your Easel project and which deployment answers them.
A hostname on Easel selects which deployment answers a request. Every project
gets Easel-provided URLs, and you can connect custom domains such as
example.com or docs.example.com. Easel serves every hostname over HTTPS.
Hostname types
| Type | What it serves |
|---|---|
| Custom domain | The project's Current Production deployment, once DNS and HTTPS are ready |
| Deployment URL | One immutable deployment |
| Preview URL | The latest Ready deployment for a branch or pull request |
| Redirect domain | Nothing from your app; it forwards every request to another URL |
Deployment and preview URLs end in preview.easelusercontent.com and need no
setup. See Deployment URLs.
A custom domain is either an apex domain (example.com) or a subdomain
(www.example.com, app.eu.example.com). A project can't have a wildcard
such as *.example.com; see Wildcard domains.
How a custom domain reaches a deployment
Domains belong to projects, not deployments. You can't assign a custom domain to a Preview deployment or a Git branch.
Several independent parts make a custom domain work:
- Registration: who owns the domain, at your registrar
- DNS: where clients send requests, at your DNS provider or Easel DNS
- Assignment: which Easel project receives the request
- HTTPS: the certificate Easel issues for the hostname
- Deployment: which of the project's deployments is Current
Changing one part doesn't change the others. Adding a domain doesn't update DNS at your provider, and it doesn't create or rebuild a deployment.
Promoting or rolling back moves domains to another Ready Production deployment without DNS changes or a rebuild; see Promote and roll back.
Terminology
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Apex domain | The registrable root, such as example.com |
| Subdomain | A hostname below the apex, such as www.example.com |
| Registrar | The company where you registered the domain |
| DNS provider | The service that hosts the domain's authoritative records, named by its NS records |
| Canonical domain | The one hostname you want visitors to use |
Management
Manage domains in the dashboard, or with the
API. Easel doesn't email domain
or certificate failures; watch the domain's status in the dashboard, or
receive domain.updated webhooks. It does email a workspace's owners and admins when
another workspace proves it owns one of their domains; see
Domain ownership. For hostname limits, see
Limits.