Skip to content

.localcert.net

Use Case

  • You are running an private, internal web service that's only accessible on your local machine, local network, virtual private network, or other non-Internet network.
  • You'd like to deploy HTTPS
  • You don't want users to see warnings about self-signed certificates
  • You don't want users to need to install and trust a private Certificate Authority root cert

How it works

You can register a free domain under .localcert.net.

Registration of a domain allows you to set the _acme-challenge TXT record for the domain. These records are used to issue TLS certificates using the ACME DNS-01 protocol. You should use an ACME client to set these records.

You are unable to set any other public DNS records, such as A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, or NS records. This prevents your domain from hosting any Internet-facing content using the public, global DNS.

You are encouraged to set DNS records on any private DNS server you operate, such as your corporate DNS server, or home Internet router. Any system on your private network, using your internal DNS server, will be able to connect to your internal web application. You may also use other methods, like the /etc/hosts file, hard-coding IP addresses in apps, or custom service discovery systems if you'd prefer.