Redirect Hosts

A redirect host maps a source domain to a destination URL with an HTTP redirect.

What it does

A redirect host creates a Caddy route that responds to all requests for a domain with an HTTP redirect to a configured destination URL. No upstream proxying is involved — Caddy handles the redirect entirely.

Redirect hosts are stored in the redirect_hosts table, separate from proxy routes.

When to use it

• www.yourdomain.com → https://yourdomain.com (apex redirect)
• old-service.yourdomain.com → https://new-service.yourdomain.com (domain migration)
• yourdomain.com/app → https://app.yourdomain.com (subdomain redirect)
• Parking a domain while a service is being rebuilt

How to configure

Navigate to Hosts → Redirect Hosts → New Redirect Host:

Field	Default	Description
Source domain	—	The hostname to redirect from
Destination URL	—	The URL to redirect to
Redirect code	301	301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary)
Preserve path	true	Append the original path to the destination URL
Preserve query	true	Append the original query string
TLS enabled	true	Whether Caddy should handle HTTPS for the source domain

Path and query preservation

With Preserve path: true and Preserve query: true:

https://old.example.com/page?q=1  →  https://new.example.com/page?q=1

With Preserve path: true, Preserve query: false:

https://old.example.com/page?q=1  →  https://new.example.com/page

With both disabled:

https://old.example.com/page?q=1  →  https://new.example.com

Troubleshooting

• If the source domain is already used by a proxy route or error host, save will fail with a duplicate domain error
• Use 301 for permanent redirects (browsers and search engines cache them). Use 302 if the redirect may change
• TLS for the source domain follows the same auto-provisioning logic as proxy routes when tlsEnabled: true