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*.localhost.direct - Wildcard Publicly Signed SSL Certificate with Subdomain Support

[!NOTE]
New DNS Discussion is currently ongoing: https://github.com/Upinel/localhost.direct/issues/21

One someday morning, I found myself tackling the usual trifecta of local development issues:

  1. Using Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) in local testing environments
  2. Dealing with SSL certificates in a local setting, where self-signed certificates are a nuisance
  3. Implementing sub-domains in local development environments

To address these, I registered the domain localhost.direct and obtained a wildcard SSL certificate. I configured localhost.direct and *.localhost.direct to point to 127.0.0.1. Now, happy coding!

Eureka! I realized that I could share the private key and SSL certificate with developers globally at no extra cost. Thus, the *.localhost.direct project was born.

A project portal is available at https://get.localhost.direct/ for developers to download the most up-to-date SSL certificate bundle. This becomes the sole reserved subdomain. Updates to the wildcard SSL certificate will be posted, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Important Informations

[!IMPORTANT] non-SSL (HTTP): Running normally
SSL (HTTPS): Suggest use Private CA CertBundle and Trust in local environment. Due to the possible key leak causing cert revoke again https://github.com/Upinel/localhost.direct/issues/18, we are currently providing two-tier Cert Bundle.

[!TIP] Addionally, In fact, highly recommanded you can self-sign your own *.localhost.direct certificate and trust the certificate in your organisation, it can make sure public CA revoke does nothing to your developing enviroment, and you can still enjoy public supported sub-domain development testing. (See Download - Section D)

[!WARNING] Never Put the .key file in any public accessible place INCLUDING GITHUB projects. If founded, the cert will revoke. I don't want to require user registration in the future. issue: https://github.com/Upinel/localhost.direct/issues/18 The Key files MUST always be password protected in a zip file. The cert bundle is zipped and password protected with a reason. CA is always keep scanning the internet to see if any key file leaked. Thanks.

EULA

To better comply with the guidelines, we’ve made some changes to our user agreement, and they’ll be effective immediately:
By using this service, you (localhost.direct developer) and LHD (localhost.direct) have agreed that you will act as LHD’s developer. However, LHD will never know what you’ve developed and will never claim ownership or copyright to your work. At the same time, LHD will not pay you any incentive or compensation and will not be responsible for any expenses or cost or damage incurred during your development.
With this developer agreement, LHD shall point their developing environment domain (localhost.direct and *.localhost.direct) to your development server IP address (in this case, 127.0.0.1). LHD will also grant you the right to use LHD’s SSL certificate for internal development purposes only. Which will be provided to you separately.
It is important to note that the Certificate Bundle(s) remains LHD's properties and you must never leak, share, or sublet this Certificate Bundle with any other parties. If you have more than one developer, they will all be under the same developer agreement with LHD.

Usage:

For non-SSL user

localhost.direct works immediately without configuration, functioning just like the traditional localhost, with added support for subdomain.localhost.direct.

For user would like to use HTTPS (SSL) in their localhost development environment

Download or clone the .key and .crt files, then deploy them to your local web server to set up an SSL-enabled local development environment.

Limitation:

get.localhost.direct is reserved and it is the only subdomain that you cannot use.

Download

We now have two-tier cert bundle, for user want to have fully anonymous, please use General Cert Bundle. We also provide Cert Bundle by Request and Cert Bundle by Sponsorship, you can request it by email.

<ins>A. Non-Public CA certificate</ins> (If you have admin right on your development environment, you can use the following 10 years long pre-generated self-signed certificate.)

This is the most certain way to avoid CA revocation. Simply download the following Certificate Bundle (or create it yourself), install it, and trust the certificate. As a result, you’ll have a 10-year-long *.localhost.direct certificate installed on your development environment. Since it’s trusted locally, it’s the most stable solution if you are in a environment that have full admin rights.
Download: https://aka.re/localhost-ss
Password: localhost

<ins>B. General Cert Bundle</ins> (fully Anonymous - Stopped, please consider using Non-Public CA certBundle and Trusted in local environment)</ins>

[!IMPORTANT] Using General Cert Bundle might have the risk of cert revocation again and again if any user misuses it. The General Cert might also have less priority of maintenance and require user reports to re-issue it. https://github.com/Upinel/localhost.direct/issues/18

Download: https://aka.re/localhost
Password for General Cert Bundle file: IWillNotPutKeyFileInPublicAccessiblePlace.X1YKK

<ins>C. Cert Bundle by Request</ins> (Free - by minimal registration)

You may send a request to get@localhost.direct to obtain a certificate bundle that is only shared with limited users if you want to reduce (not 100%) the risk of being revoked due to other users’ bad behaviour.
The email must include the following informations:

Your Email: (Email must not be temporary email)
Your GitHub ID:
Your Project Name:

The Cert Bundle by Request might take sometime to process

<ins>D. Cert Bundle by Sponsorship</ins>

To express our gratitude to our sponsors, Sponsors can request one-year version of the Cert Bundle who have made a monthly donation of $5 or a one-time donation of over $40. To request this special offer, please send an email to get@localhost.direct, providing your sponsorship GitHub ID or PayPal ID. Your support will be instrumental in helping us develop our own auto-issuing portal as soon as possible. Sponsors who make a donation before November 2024, regardless of the amount, can request the Cert Bundle as a token of appreciation for their early support.

Last update Log.

Credit:

This project is self-funded and shared freely with the community. We respect your privacy; your usage of localhost.direct is anonymous to us.
Giving this project a star fuels our commitment to maintaining and improving it.

Donations are welcomed at Github Sponsor or paypal.me/Upinel and are deeply appreciated.

A heartfelt thank you to the following sponsors :)

I love you all <3