Skip to content
Vessl Docs

Domains

Vessl uses Traefik to route traffic and manage certificates once DNS resolves to the server.

Control Plane Domain

Section titled “Control Plane Domain”

The control plane domain serves Vessl itself:

A     pilot.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV4
AAAA  pilot.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV6

Set or update this hostname during onboarding or in system settings.

Magic Domains (Zero Config)

Section titled “Magic Domains (Zero Config)”

If you don’t have a domain name yet, Vessl provides built-in support for magic DNS providers out of the box:

  • sslip.io
  • traefik.me
  • nip.io

When a magic domain is enabled, Vessl will automatically generate accessible hostnames based on your server’s IP address. For example, if your server IP is 203.0.113.42 and you use sslip.io, your apps will get hostnames like:

api.203-0-113-42.sslip.io
web.203-0-113-42.sslip.io

This requires zero DNS configuration and is perfect for testing or internal services.

Wildcard Root Domain

Section titled “Wildcard Root Domain”

For production, you should set a wildcard root domain to generate custom service hostnames automatically.

DNS record:

A     *.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV4
AAAA  *.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV6

With this configured, services receive hostnames like:

api.example.com
web.example.com
worker.example.com

Database services can also receive generated public hostnames when database public access is enabled.

Custom Domains

Section titled “Custom Domains”

For a custom domain, point DNS at the same server:

A     app.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV4
AAAA  app.example.com     YOUR_SERVER_IPV6

Then add the domain to the service in Vessl. Traefik handles routing and certificates after DNS resolves.

Service Domain Tab

Section titled “Service Domain Tab”

The service Domains tab shows:

  • The hostname.
  • Whether the domain is active or pending.
  • The target A record.
  • The server IP to point at.
  • DNS provider actions when a provider is connected.
  • Refresh and verify action for propagation checks.

Local loopback domains such as localhost do not need public DNS records.

Traefik Behavior

Section titled “Traefik Behavior”

Traefik serves the Vessl dashboard, app services, static sites, and custom domains. Vessl rewrites and reloads Traefik configuration when domain settings change.

If Traefik reload fails, Vessl surfaces the reload detail in the deployment or settings flow. Check Traefik logs from the server when DNS is correct but routing still fails.

DNS Checklist

Section titled “DNS Checklist”
  • The hostname resolves to the server.
  • Ports 80 and 443 are reachable.
  • No other process is bound to those public ports.
  • Traefik is running through the Vessl Docker Compose stack.
  • The service is deployed and active.
  • The service internal port matches the app container’s listening port.
Section titled “Related Pages”