DOCUMENTATION

Set up a redirect

Everything RedirectDuck does, in one page. Add a domain, point one DNS record at us, and describe where the traffic should go.

Quick start

A new domain is usually live in under a minute once DNS resolves.

1
Add the domain
In the app, open Domains and enter the domain you want to redirect, without https://. Choose the US (New York) or EU (Frankfurt) edge closest to your visitors for faster redirects.
2
Add the DNS record
We show one record per hostname. Add it at your registrar or DNS provider. After the record has propagated, click Verify next to the domain to check it.
3
Write the rule
Choose a destination for the whole domain, or add rules path by path. Check the URL preview before saving the rule.
DNS · oldbrand.com · zone EU
@ A 129.212.255.0 www CNAME eu.edge.redirectduck.com
✓ verified  ✓ certificate issued  ✓ live in 38s

Domains & DNS

Which record you add depends on the hostname. Root domains need an A record because CNAME is not allowed at the apex, unless your provider supports ALIAS or flattening.

Hostname Type Value Notes
example.com A 129.212.255.0 Root domain, EU zone
example.com A 129.212.139.3 Root domain, US zone
www.example.com CNAME eu.edge.redirectduck.com Included with the root
*.example.com CNAME eu.edge.redirectduck.com Wildcard, needs TXT validation
Certificates
Issued automatically at verification and renewed 30 days before expiry. Wildcard hostnames use DNS validation, which needs the TXT record we show next to the domain.
Counting domains
example.com and www.example.com count as one domain. Any other subdomain counts separately. Destinations are never counted.

Redirect types

Pick per rule. If you are not sure and the move is permanent, use 301.

301
Moved permanently
Rebrands and finished migrations. Cached by browsers and passed on by search engines.
302
Found
Campaigns and temporary destinations. Nothing is cached long term.
307
Temporary redirect
Same as 302 but the method and body are preserved. Use it for POST endpoints.
308
Permanent redirect
Same as 301 but the method is preserved. The safe choice for APIs.

Rules & matching

Rules are evaluated from the most specific to the least specific: exact path, then prefix, then regex, then the domain-wide fallback. The first match wins and evaluation stops.

Match Pattern What it catches
Exact /pricing That one path, nothing else
Prefix /blog/* Every URL under /blog/
Wildcard host *.example.com Every subdomain of the old domain
Regex ^/p/(\d+)$ Numeric product IDs, captured as $1
Fallback /* Everything not matched above
Regex rules are available on Pro and Agency. Loop and chain detection runs on every save, so a rule that points a domain back at itself is refused before it goes live.

Paths & query strings

Each rule has two switches: keep the path and keep the query string. Capture groups from wildcards and regex are available as $1, $2 and so on.

oldbrand.com/team?ref=x → newbrand.io/team?ref=x
keep path off → newbrand.io/
docs.acme.com/v1/auth → docs.acme.com/v2/auth
shop.acme.co/p/1842 → acme.com/products/1842

Importing rules

Upload a CSV with these columns. Extra columns are ignored. Duplicates and conflicting patterns are flagged before anything is written, and on Pro you can preview the whole import as a diff.

source,destination,code,keep_path,keep_query
oldbrand.com/*,https://newbrand.io/$1,301,true,true
go.acme.com/summer,https://acme.com/sale,302,false,true
docs.acme.com/v1/*,https://docs.acme.com/v2/$1,301,true,true

Imports are also available through the API. Rows that fail validation are returned in a report so you can fix and re-upload only those.

Analytics

Every hit is counted at the edge: timestamp, matched rule, status code, referrer, country and user agent family. IP addresses are truncated before storage and never kept in full. History depends on your plan: 7 days on Free, 30 on Starter, 90 on Pro, 365 on Agency.

< 5 ms
Median redirect latency
1 min
Dashboard refresh interval
CSV · JSON
Export formats
Truncated
IP handling at the edge

Troubleshooting

The domain is still pending after an hour
Your provider may cache the old record. Check the TTL on the record you replaced and confirm no conflicting A, AAAA or CNAME entry exists on the same hostname.
The browser shows a certificate warning
The certificate is issued after verification, not before. If verification succeeded more than five minutes ago, remove any CAA record that blocks Let’s Encrypt.
www works but the root does not
The root needs an A record. A CNAME at the apex is rejected by most providers unless they support ALIAS or CNAME flattening.
The redirect drops my query string
Turn on "keep query" in the rule. It is off by default for exact-path rules so campaign links stay clean.
Too many redirects
The destination is pointing back at the source, usually through a second service. Open the rule tester and paste the full URL; the chain is shown step by step.
Still stuck on a record?
Send us the domain and the provider you use. We answer with the exact record to paste.
help@redirectduck.com