I help others with code, but (almost) nobody thanks me

[khalby786]

Hey @cedkim,

Welcome to the Glitch forums!

If you still want to use custom domains without having 2 thanks, here’s how to do it:

1. Go to freenom.com and purchase a domain. Domains ending with .com, .io, and other such domains cost money. For free domains, search for domains ending with .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf and .gq.

2. Then in your project, place the following piece of code in your server.js.

function checkHttps(req, res, next){
  // protocol check, if http, redirect to https
  
  if(req.get('X-Forwarded-Proto').indexOf("https")!=-1){
    return next()
  } else {
    res.redirect('https://' + req.hostname + req.url);
  }
}

app.all('*', checkHttps);

Make sure to place this code after const express = require('express'); (the declaration of express).

3. Go to fly.io and create an account. After creating your account, log in to your account

4. Then, go to https://fly.io/sites.

5. You will see a button that says Add new site.

6. Then you will reach this page:

7. Make sure to choose hosting service an then click on Glitch. A textbox will appear. Type in your Glitch project domain without the https:// or http:// part, like this: yourprojectname.glitch.me.

8. Then click Preview your site.

NOTE: You might get an error sometimes about Glitch headers, but if such an error is shown, just click ‘Continue anyway’!

9. Then you can click Set your hostname !
   You will be greeted with another prompt.

10. Now type in the hostname your going to use. For example, I’d put in mywebsite.tk

11. Now click Next, configure DNS.

12. It will bring you to a different screen. Ignore what it says and just click the button that says Got it!

13. You will then see a dashboard like this:

14. On the right side of the dashboard, you will see a preview URL. Copy it:

15. Then open Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal in Linux and MacOS. Type
    FOR WINDOWS:

ping THE_URL_YOU_COPIED

FOR MacOS:

dig THE_URL_YOU_COPIED

NOTE: Make sure to remove the https:// part!

For example:

ping oewm15vw6wqxlvpk.shw.io

Now you will notice an IP will display on the screen.

Example:
(Windows)

(MacOS and Linux)

Now write down the IP on a piece of paper or just type it out into Notepad or something. You’ll need your IP later.

16. Go to freenom.com
    Go to My Domains
    Click on Manage Domain
    Click on Management Tools
    Click on Nameservers
    Select Use default nameservers
    Press Change Nameservers

Now you can setup your DNS records, by going to
the Manage Freenom DNS area.

You do this by:
Go to My Domains
Click on Manage Domain
Manage Freenom DNS

17. You will get a box like this:
    

    

18. Now, leave the Name part alone. Now set the TTL part to 14440 .

19. In the Target box enter the IP address you wrote down.

20. Now save that then your nearly done.

21. Now go back to the fly.io dashboard. Then click Middleware.

22. You will be taken to a page like this:

23. You can enable whatever you want but you must click the Add button for HTTPS Upgrader .

That’s it! You should be set to go!

Note: It can take while for your DNS provider’s name servers to update!

Hope that helps!

This post is based on an earlier post by @charliea21 about the same topic. It can be viewed by clicking here. Thanks to @charliea21 for the pictures.