Custom Domain

Deploy Dograh AI with custom domain names and SSL certificates

Deploy Dograh AI with your own custom domain name for a professional production setup. By now, you should be able to create and test a voice agent by following the previous guide to setup the platform on a remote server using Docker

What is Custom Domain Deployment?

Custom domain deployment allows you to run Dograh AI with a personalized domain name (like voice.yourcompany.com) instead of using IP addresses. This setup includes:

• Custom Domain: Access your application via a memorable domain name
• Automatic SSL: Proper SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt or similar providers
• Professional Setup: Production-ready configuration for business use
• Easy Sharing: Share a clean URL with your team and customers

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A domain name you own (e.g., yourcompany.com)
• Access to your domain’s DNS settings (usually through your domain registrar)
• Dograh AI already running on your server via the remote deployment guide
• Your server’s public IP address

Step 1: Configure DNS Records

You need to create a DNS record that points your domain to your server’s IP address.

Add an A Record

Log in to your domain registrar or DNS provider and add an A record:

Setting	Value
Type	A
Name/Host	voice (or @ for root domain)
Value/Points to	Your server’s IP address (e.g., 203.0.113.50)
TTL	300 (or default)

DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours to propagate, though most changes take effect within 5-30 minutes. You can check if your DNS has propagated using tools like dnschecker.org.

Verify DNS Propagation

Before proceeding, verify that your domain points to your server:

nslookup voice.yourcompany.com

You should see your server’s IP address in the response.

Step 2: Quick Setup (Recommended)

Once your DNS is configured, run the automated setup script that handles the rest.

You must be at the same place where you had run setup_remote.sh from. The directory should contain dograh/ with the artifacts that got created when setup_remote.sh was run.

You must not move the dograh/ directory to a different location after running setup_custom_domain.sh, since we set up auto certificate renewal script as certbot renewal hook pointing to the dograh/ directory.

curl -o setup_custom_domain.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dograh-hq/dograh/main/scripts/setup_custom_domain.sh && chmod +x setup_custom_domain.sh && sudo ./setup_custom_domain.sh

The script will prompt you for:

• Your domain name
• An email address for Let’s Encrypt notifications

It will automatically:

• Verify DNS configuration
• Install Certbot
• Generate Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
• Update the canonical public host/base URL settings in .env
• Validate the runtime config that dograh-init will render from .env
• Configure automatic certificate renewal
• Restart Dograh services through the validated startup wrapper

Once complete, your application will be available at https://voice.yourcompany.com.

If you prefer to set things up manually, continue with the steps below.

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Manual Setup

If you prefer to configure everything manually, follow these steps instead of using the automated script.

Install Certbot

Certbot is the official Let’s Encrypt client that automates SSL certificate generation.

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot -y

Amazon Linux/RHEL:

sudo yum install certbot -y

Stop Dograh Services

Before generating certificates, stop the running Dograh services to free up port 80:

cd dograh
sudo docker compose --profile remote down

Generate SSL Certificates

Run Certbot to obtain SSL certificates for your domain:

sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d voice.yourcompany.com

Replace voice.yourcompany.com with your actual domain name.

Certbot will:

1. Verify that you control the domain
2. Generate SSL certificates
3. Store them in /etc/letsencrypt/live/voice.yourcompany.com/

You’ll be prompted to enter an email address for renewal notifications and agree to the terms of service.

Copy Certificates to Dograh Directory

Copy the generated certificates to the dograh certs directory:

cd dograh
sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/voice.yourcompany.com/fullchain.pem certs/local.crt
sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/voice.yourcompany.com/privkey.pem certs/local.key
sudo chmod 644 certs/local.crt certs/local.key

Update Canonical Public URL Settings

Update .env so the canonical remote settings point at your domain:

nano dograh/.env

PUBLIC_HOST=voice.yourcompany.com
PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://voice.yourcompany.com

Start Dograh Services

Start Dograh through the validated startup wrapper so dograh-init regenerates nginx and coturn runtime config before Docker starts:

cd dograh
./remote_up.sh

Access Your Application

Your application is now available at:

https://voice.yourcompany.com

You should see a valid SSL certificate (green padlock) in your browser.

Set Up Certificate Renewal

Let’s Encrypt certificates expire after 90 days. Set up automatic renewal.

Create a renewal hook script that copies the new certificates:

sudo nano /etc/letsencrypt/renewal-hooks/deploy/dograh-reload.sh

Add the following content (replace paths as needed):

#!/bin/bash
# Copy renewed certificates to dograh certs directory
cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/voice.yourcompany.com/fullchain.pem /home/ubuntu/dograh/certs/local.crt
cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/voice.yourcompany.com/privkey.pem /home/ubuntu/dograh/certs/local.key
chmod 644 /home/ubuntu/dograh/certs/local.crt /home/ubuntu/dograh/certs/local.key

# Restart nginx to load new certificates
cd /home/ubuntu/dograh
docker compose --profile remote restart nginx

Make the script executable:

sudo chmod +x /etc/letsencrypt/renewal-hooks/deploy/dograh-reload.sh

Test that renewal works:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Troubleshooting

Certificate Generation Fails

If Certbot fails to generate certificates:

1. Port 80 blocked: Ensure port 80 is open in your firewall and no service is using it
2. DNS not propagated: Wait for DNS changes to propagate and verify with nslookup
3. Rate limits: Let’s Encrypt has rate limits. If you’ve exceeded them, wait before retrying

SSL Certificate Errors in Browser

If you see SSL errors after setup:

1. Verify the certificates were copied correctly: ls -la dograh/certs/
2. Run ./remote_up.sh --preflight-only in dograh/ to verify the dograh-init runtime render matches .env
3. Restart the nginx container: sudo docker compose --profile remote restart nginx

WebRTC Connection Issues

If voice calls don’t connect after domain setup:

1. Ensure TCP/UDP ports 3478, 5349, and UDP 49152-49200 are still open
2. Check that PUBLIC_HOST / PUBLIC_BASE_URL in .env match your domain, then re-run ./remote_up.sh