Domains and Slugs
Manage custom domains, verify routing, and reserve vanity slugs.
Custom domains are organization assets.
For the current client model:
acme.comexample.io
should be attached to the same tenant organization if the same admin team manages them.
Shortnd manages branded links as exact hostnames owned by an organization. That means a tenant can onboard:
- an apex hostname such as
acme.com - a subdomain hostname such as
go.acme.com
Each hostname has its own ownership, routing, SSL, and activation lifecycle.
Recommended setup flow
- Approve and review the domain in the dashboard.
- Create or confirm the custom domain record with
POST /api/v1/domains. - Add the TXT ownership record and the routing record returned by the API.
- Trigger verification with
POST /api/v1/domains/{id}/verify. - Wait for SSL activation before treating the hostname as live.
- Create operational links through
POST /api/v1/urlswith the domain ID.
DNS model
- The TXT token proves domain ownership. It does not route traffic.
- Apex hostnames route through A records or provider-level ALIAS/ANAME at your DNS provider.
- Subdomain hostnames route through a CNAME back to Shortnd infrastructure.
- A domain is only ready when ownership verification, routing verification, and SSL activation all succeed.
Example DNS records for go.acme.com:
- TXT host:
_shortnd-verify.go - TXT value:
<verification token> - CNAME host:
go.acme.com - CNAME target:
cname.shortnd.com
Custom slug behavior
Slug uniqueness depends on the namespace.
- Platform-domain slugs must be globally unique.
- Custom-domain slugs are unique within that specific custom domain.
That lets one tenant automate user-facing slugs for acme.com and example.io independently while keeping each domain safe from collisions.
Example
curl -X POST https://shortnd.com/api/v1/urls \
-H "Authorization: Bearer eyJ..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"targetUrl": "https://example.io/onboarding",
"customSlug": "welcome",
"domainId": "domain_uuid"
}'