/domain

name: domain
description: "Custom domains for Control Plane workloads. Use when the user asks to put a domain or subdomain in front of a workload, pick cname vs ns, configure routing or TLS, or hits apex, ownership, or workloadLink errors."

Custom Domains

> **Tool availability:** the default `core` profile covers the entire domain workflow — `create_domain`, `update_domain`, the route-edit trio (`add_domain_route` / `update_domain_route` / `remove_domain_route`), listener ports (`add_domain_port` / `remove_domain_port`), TLS (`set_domain_tls` / `clear_domain_tls`), and the generic `list_resources` / `get_resource` / `delete_resource`. Only CORS edits (`set_domain_cors` / `clear_domain_cors`) live in the `full` profile — if one is not advertised, reconnect with `?toolsets=full` or use the `cpln` CLI fallback.

A `domain` is an org-level resource that binds a DNS name to workloads in **one GVC**. **Created ≠ live:** after the resource exists, the user still adds records at their DNS provider — read exactly which from `status.dnsConfig` and hand them over verbatim, never guessed. Every shape decision below is platform-enforced and a wrong combination is a rejected mutation, so decide BEFORE calling `mcp__cpln__create_domain` (the tool requires `dnsMode` and `ports` explicitly). Never set `spec.domain` on a GVC — that legacy field is deprecated; the Domain resource is the only path.

Decide the shape first

**1. Apex or subdomain?** The apex is the registrable root (`example.com`, `example.co.uk`); anything deeper is a subdomain (`app.example.com`).

**2. `dnsMode` — who runs DNS:**

| Mode | Valid for | Wiring | Cert challenge | |---|---|---|---| | `cname` | **apex (required)** and subdomains | User adds CNAME records per `status.dnsConfig` | `http01` default, `dns01` opt-in | | `ns` | **subdomains only** | Delegates the subdomain zone via 4 NS records (`ns1`/`ns2.cpln.cloud`, `ns1`/`ns2.cpln.live`) | `dns01` only — `http01` rejected |

`dnsMode` defaults to `cname` (to `ns` when `gvcLink` is set). The platform rejects `ns` on an apex, and rejects a `cname` domain nested under an existing NS domain (`parent_ns_domain_exists`).

**3. Routing — exactly ONE of three.** All routes in a domain must target workloads in the **same GVC**.

| Mode | What it does | Constraints | |---|---|---| | `ports[].routes` | Explicit path routes to workloads | The default choice; works for every workload type | | `gvcLink` | Every workload in the GVC gets `{workload}.{domain}` | Excludes `workloadLink` and any `ports[].routes`. With `cname` + `http01` it demands `tls.serverCertificate` on every TLS port (http01 cannot issue wildcard certs) | | `workloadLink` (spec-level) | Replica-direct: binds the whole domain to ONE stateful workload with per-replica DNS names | **Stateful only** (`workloadLink must link to a stateful workload`); every port exactly ONE route to that same workload; `http01` rejected |

For an app, site, or API on serverless/standard, the answer is `ports[].routes`. Route-level `workloadLink` inside `routes[]` is a different field with no stateful restriction.

Ownership and create order

• **`ns` subdomain:** the apex domain resource must already exist in the org (`apex_must_exist`).
• **Everything else:** ownership is proven either by the org already owning the verified apex (subdomains then attach with no extra records), or by a TXT record — the create fails with `must_prove_ownership` listing the options: `_cpln.{apex}` / `_verify.{apex}`, or `_cpln-{label}.{rest}` / `_verify-{label}.{rest}` at any segment level, value = org GUID **or** org name (TTL 600). The user adds **one**, waits for propagation, and you retry the same create. `mcp__cpln__create_domain` surfaces these records in its error output.
• **Apex owned by another org?** The apex name itself is taken (globally unique), but **subdomains still work**: they go through the same TXT proof in this org — the standard multi-org pattern (keep the apex in the production org).
• **`.internal` domains** are strict same-org — apex and subdomains must live in one org (`apex_owned_by_other_org`, HTTP 409) — and: `cname` only, no `gvcLink`, `certChallengeType` forbidden; every TLS port needs `tls.serverCertificate.secretLink` (no ACME).

Manifest shape

kind: domain
name: app.example.com
spec:
  dnsMode: cname
  ports:                                # max 10 per domain
    - number: 443                       # default 443; 443 + http/http2 auto-gets a TLS block
      protocol: http2                   # http | http2 | tcp (tcp needs a dedicated load balancer)
      routes:                           # max 150 per port (200 with tag cpln/routeLimitOverride)
        - prefix: /api                  # prefix XOR regex (RE2); prefix defaults to "/"
          replacePrefix: /              # optional rewrite before forwarding
          workloadLink: //gvc/GVC/workload/API
          port: 8080                    # optional target container port
        - prefix: /
          workloadLink: //gvc/GVC/workload/FRONTEND

• **Longest prefix wins** — prefix routes are auto-sorted; regex routes are NOT sorted, written order matters. Duplicate prefix+host combinations are rejected (`There are more than one routes for the prefix …`).
• **Listener ports other than 443/80 — and the `tcp` protocol — require a dedicated load balancer.** Without one the domain deploys into `warning` (`Unable to configure port …`) instead of serving.
• **Subdomain matching on one domain** (`hostPrefix` / `hostRegex`, mutually exclusive) requires `acceptAllHosts` or `acceptAllSubdomains` (which exclude each other) AND a GVC with a dedicated load balancer. `hostPrefix` charset: alphanumeric, dot, underscore, hyphen.
• **Header rewrites** (`headers.request.set`): values may use only `%REQUESTED_SERVER_NAME%`, `%DOWNSTREAM_REMOTE_ADDRESS_WITHOUT_PORT%`, `%START_TIME%`.
• **Traffic mirroring** per route: `mirror: [{workloadLink, percent 0-100, port}]` — same