By Frederik
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to figure out how to configure wildcard subdomains using DigitalOcean App Platform.
Here’s my setup:
I have domain.com serving as my main landing page.
I’d like all dynamic subdomains (e.g. xyz.domain.com, abc.domain.com) to point to a different app, not the same one that serves the landing page.
From what I understand, I can’t easily handle subdomain rewrites or routing inside my Svelte app without changing the URL, so I think I need to configure this at the DNS / App Platform level.
Has anyone set up something similar? What’s the best way to configure DigitalOcean so that:
The root domain domain.com points to one app.
Any subdomain (*.domain.com) points to another app.
Any guidance would be much appreciated!
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Hi there,
I think that you should be able to do that by following the steps here:
But as far as I can tell, you can add a wildcard record to your app’s domain to redirect queries for non-existent subdomains to the domain’s root. Would that work for you or are you trying to point the domains to a totally separate web service?
Add Your Main Domain First
Go to your App → Settings → Domains → Add example.com first.
Then Add Wildcard Domain
Add *.example.com — this enables dynamic subdomains like foo.example.com.
DNS Setup
Using DigitalOcean DNS? You’re good! DO auto-creates all needed records.
Using external DNS (e.g., Cloudflare)?
Add a CNAME for *.example.com → your app’s default .ondigitalocean.app URL.
Also, add any TXT records DO asks for (for SSL).
Wait for Propagation (a few mins to hours)
Test by visiting any subdomain like test.example.com.
That’s it! Wildcard subdomains should route to your app.
Note: If using Cloudflare, turn on CNAME Flattening to avoid DNS errors like Error 1016.
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