Domains

Your domains

A PDS has two kinds of domain: its PDS hostname, the one address it runs on, and any number of handle domains, extra domains your accounts can have handles under.

Your PDS hostname

You pick your PDS hostname when you order. It can be either a free subdomain from us, or a domain you own.

Your PDS hostname goes into the identity record of every account on your PDS. That record is how the rest of the network finds where an account lives, so once it's set, it can never be changed. See Can I change my PDS's domain? for why.

Your PDS hostname is also a handle domain itself: accounts can have handles under it, like alice.example.com. If you don't add any other handle domains, it's the only domain handles can be on.

A free subdomain

Every package can use a free subdomain of at.peedee.es, like yourname.at.peedee.es. There are no DNS records to set up: your PDS works as soon as it's ready.

Handles on your PDS then look like alice.yourname.at.peedee.es.

A free subdomain is yours for as long as your PDS exists. Once a PDS is deleted, its subdomain is never handed out again, so nobody can take over old handles.

Your own domain

You can run your PDS on a domain you own, for example example.com, or a subdomain of it, like people.example.com. Handles then look like alice.example.com, or alice.people.example.com.

After payment, add the records from DNS records setup at your DNS provider. Your dashboard shows the exact values for your PDS. We check for them automatically and continue setting up your PDS as soon as they're all there.

If your domain is registered with marque.at, we can add the records for you. See marque.at domains.

Handle domains

A handle domain gives your accounts handles on a domain other than your PDS hostname. For example, a PDS at example.com can also give out handles like alice.anotherexample.org, if anotherexample.org is added as a handle domain.

A handle domain only changes the handle, not where accounts live: their identity records still point at your PDS hostname. That means a handle domain can be added, and switched off again, at any time.

Adding a domain

  1. Open Settings, then Domains, and click Add domain.
  2. Enter a domain you own, or pick one of your marque.at domains (the whole domain or a subdomain of it).
  3. Add the DNS records shown, then click Check records. For marque.at domains we can add them for you.

We keep checking for a few minutes. Once all records are found, the domain shows as Verified.

Switching it on

Verified domains get a switch. Turn it on and click Apply. Your PDS restarts briefly to pick up the change, and new handles can use the domain.

Switching it off

Switching a domain off does not stop every handle under it from working, so long as the DNS records are still pointing at the PDS, it just stops people from being able to choose that handle domain. The same goes for removing it from your PDS, so long as the DNS records are present, handles on that domain will keep working. It only stops working once you remove the DNS records pointing to your PDS. As a bit of a safety feature, when disabling or removing a handle domain, we show you how many accounts use it, ask you to type the domain name to confirm, just to be sure you're doing it all intentionally.

Limits

A PDS has limits on how many active handle domains it can have, depending on your chosen package. See our pricing to see the current limits. Need more? Contact us.

marque.at domains

If your domain is registered with marque.at, we can add its DNS records for you, both for your PDS hostname and for handle domains. You have to explicitly confirm that this is what you want us to do, so we'll never go rummage around your PDS writing records for no reason.

Whole domain or a subdomain

  • The whole domain (example.com): your PDS uses the domain itself. Nothing else can use it while it's connected to your PDS.
  • A subdomain (people.example.com): your PDS uses one name within the domain; the rest stays free for other uses.

Letting us add the records

Choose Add the DNS records for me and we will request permission from your PDS to allow us to write the ATproto records to your repository that allows us to change your domain's DNS. We only touch the records your PDS needs and leave everything else as it is.

If you'd rather add them yourself, switch that off and follow DNS records setup.

If marque.at permission runs out

This happens when the session we had with your PDS changes or times out; we'll just ask you for authorization again. You are always free to revoke the permission, but it does mean you'll have to do a manual setup of your DNS.

Keeping it working

We check your records regularly. If one goes missing or changes, we email you and show it in your dashboard. See Fixing DNS problems.