Put a website online
From a domain in your account to a website served over HTTPS.
If domain and service are new to you, read Domains, zones, and services first. This guide builds on it.
1. The website already exists
Every domain comes with a working set of services, including a Website on the domain itself:
example.comserves pages as soon as the domain is in your account.www.example.compoints to the same site through a Website Alias the panel creates for you.
So for a site on your domain, skip ahead to uploading your files.
Each website has a document root, the folder it serves. By default it's
public/<domain> in your home directory, e.g. public/example.com. You can
point the website somewhere else, but the default keeps each site's files
in a predictable place.
| You want | Create |
|---|---|
A site on your domain (example.com) | Nothing. It already exists. |
A site on a subdomain (shop.example.com) | A Website service on that domain. |
| The same site under another name | A Website Alias service, like the www one. |
Create services under Services: pick the domain and add the service. There's no separate step to create a subdomain; naming it here is enough.
2. Upload your files
Put your site in the document root, using whichever you like:
- File Manager in the panel
- SFTP or SSH, with a key added under SSH
- the browser Terminal or Code Editor
- the REST API, for deploy scripts
An index.html in the document root is enough to see the site live.
3. HTTPS is automatic
You don't set up certificates. Each domain starts with a placeholder certificate, and the panel replaces it with a trusted one once the domain resolves to this server.
Browsers warn about the placeholder until the real certificate arrives. The warning goes away by itself. Certificates covers the details, and the rare cases where you bring your own.
If your DNS is hosted here, which is usual, the records the website needs are already there. If your DNS is elsewhere, point the domain to this server at your DNS provider. See DNS is managed for you.
Beyond static files
To run an application behind a website, attach it to a URL path with a mount. Node, Python, PHP, and containers all work this way. See Hosting architectures for the model and Web hosting for the guides.