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Dulaj Thiwanka
Dulaj Thiwanka

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Get Your Free .is-a.dev Subdomain: Step-by-Step Guide for Developers

#webdev #domain #tutorial #opensource

Are you a developer looking for a clean, professional, and free domain for your portfolio, projects, or personal site?
Meet .is-a.dev — a community-driven service that gives developers free subdomains like:

yourname.is-a.dev
project.is-a.dev
portfolio.is-a.dev
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The best part? You don’t need to buy a domain or configure a registrar — you just submit a small JSON file via GitHub.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • ✅ What .is-a.dev is
  • ✅ Why developers use it
  • ✅ Rules you need to know
  • ✅ Step-by-step setup (with examples)
  • ✅ How to update or delete it later

Let’s get rolling 🚀

🧩 What Is .is-a.dev?

.is-a.dev is an open-source service that gives developers free subdomains for personal or software-related projects. Registration happens via a GitHub pull request to their public repo.

You can use it for:

  • 🌐 Portfolios
  • 🛠 Dev blogs
  • 💻 GitHub Pages
  • 📦 Vercel / Netlify sites
  • 🚀 APIs & side projects

➡️ Repo: github.com/is-a-dev/register
➡️ Docs: https://docs.is-a.dev

Because it’s listed in the Public Suffix List (PSL), many platforms treat it like a real top-level domain — meaning fewer restrictions.

✅ DNS Record Types You Can Use

.is-a.dev supports the most common DNS records:

Record Use Case
A / AAAA VPS, server hosting
CNAME GitHub Pages, Vercel, Netlify, etc
MX Email routing
TXT Verification & configs
URL Redirects
SRV / TLSA Advanced setups

⚠️ NS (nameserver delegation) is only allowed in certain approved cases, and only if your subdomain has existed for 30+ days.

🛠 Step-by-Step: Get Your .is-a.dev Subdomain

✅ 1. Prerequisites

You’ll need:

  • A GitHub account
  • A site or project to point to (or plan to host one)
  • The DNS record type you want to use (e.g. CNAME or A)

✅ 2. Fork the Register Repo

Go to:
🔗 https://github.com/is-a-dev/register

Click Fork to copy it to your GitHub account.

✅ 3. Create Your JSON File

Inside your fork:

  1. Go to the domains/ folder
  2. Click Add file → Create new file
  3. Name it after the subdomain you want, for example: 
   yourname.json
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→ This becomes yourname.is-a.dev

✅ Rules:

  • 2–64 characters
  • lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes only

Now add the JSON data.

Example for GitHub Pages:

{
  "owner": {
    "username": "your-github-username"
  },
  "records": {
    "CNAME": "yourgithubusername.github.io"
  }
}
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Example for VPS / IP hosting:

{
  "owner": {
    "username": "your-github-username"
  },
  "records": {
    "A": ["123.45.67.89"]
  }
}
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Commit the file.

✅ 4. Open a Pull Request (PR)

After saving, GitHub will prompt you to Open a Pull Request.

In the PR description:

  • Complete the checklist
  • Confirm your project is dev-related
  • Submit the PR

That’s it — now the maintainers will review it.

⏳ Typical approval time: 24–72 hours

✅ 5. Wait for Merge & Test Your Domain

Once merged:

  • DNS propagates within minutes (sometimes a bit longer)
  • Visit yourname.is-a.dev to check

If you still see the .is-a.dev homepage:

  • Refresh / clear cache
  • Flush DNS (if needed)

For GitHub Pages users, enable “Enforce HTTPS” in repo settings.

🔁 Need to Update or Delete Later?

Just edit or delete your .json file in your fork and submit another PR.

✅ Example changes:

  • Update IP
  • Switch from CNAME to A record
  • Add TXT or MX
  • Remove the domain entirely

🧠 Example Walkthrough

Let’s say Alice wants alice.is-a.dev for her GitHub Pages site.

She creates:

domains/alice.json, with:

{
  "owner": {
    "username": "alice"
  },
  "records": {
    "CNAME": "alice.github.io"
  }
}
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She opens a PR → it's merged → DNS goes live →
✅ alice.is-a.dev now points to her site!

✅ Why Developers Love .is-a.dev

  • ✅ Free forever
  • ✅ Clean, developer-friendly branding
  • ✅ Works with GitHub Pages, Vercel, Netlify, etc
  • ✅ Supports various DNS records
  • ✅ Full control through JSON and GitHub

Perfect if you don’t want to register/pay for your own .com, .dev, .io, etc.

🛠 Common Issues & Fixes

Problem Solution
PR not merged yet Wait patiently / check for comments
Domain shows default page Browser or DNS cache → clear it
HTTPS not working Enable HTTPS in hosting settings
Want NS records Only allowed after 30 days with justification
Nested domains Allowed if you own the parent (blog.alice.is-a.dev)

✨ Final Thoughts

If you want a professional-looking domain for your dev presence — without buying one — .is-a.dev is a fantastic solution.

You control the DNS.
It’s simple to manage via GitHub.
And the process takes less than 10 minutes.

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