Domains & DNS

Domains & DNS

Basic Principle

GateControl acts as a reverse proxy: requests to a domain (e.g. app.example.com) are forwarded by Caddy to a backend — typically a service behind the WireGuard tunnel.

For this to work, DNS records must point to the public IP of the server running GateControl.

Creating DNS Records

For each domain or subdomain you want to use as a route in GateControl, you need a DNS record:

A Record (IPv4):

app.example.com    A    203.0.113.50
nas.example.com    A    203.0.113.50

Wildcard (optional):

*.example.com      A    203.0.113.50

A wildcard record (*.example.com) covers all subdomains — you can then create as many routes as you like without setting up a new DNS record each time.

AAAA Record (IPv6, optional):

app.example.com    AAAA    2001:db8::1

Where to Configure DNS?

Important Notes

• Propagation: DNS changes take 1–60 minutes to become visible worldwide
• TTL: Set the TTL to 300 (5 minutes) for faster changes
• Proxy: If you use Cloudflare, set the proxy status to DNS only (gray cloud), not Proxied (orange cloud). Caddy needs direct access for Let's Encrypt
• GateControl DNS Check: When creating a route, GateControl automatically checks whether the domain points to the correct IP

Multiple Domains

You can use as many domains and subdomains as you like:

app.example.com        →  10.8.0.2:8080
nas.example.com        →  10.8.0.3:5000
git.other-domain.com   →  10.8.0.4:3000

Each domain needs its own DNS record pointing to the GateControl server IP.