Domain names and DNS records for your service

To ensure users can connect to your service, you’ll need accurate Domain Name System (DNS) records and a DNS provider to supply your DNS nameservers.

For services hosted on AWS you should use Amazon Route 53 as a cloud DNS web service.

Some services dual-host their DNS using Google Cloud DNS for high nameserver availability. This adds complexity and risk, so do a careful analysis of how it could affect overall reliability first.

You can read more about service domains and DNS, including how to apply for a domain name for citizen-facing services, in the Service Manual.

Production and non-production domain names

Your non-production domains should be subdomains of your production domain.

For example, if you service can be found at myservice.service.gov.uk, then you might also have Route 53 records for your other environments, such as:

staging.myservice.service.gov.uk
dev.myservice.service.gov.uk

In this example it’s important to avoid setting cookies for the entire domain myservice.service.gov.uk. Always follow the OWASP guidance on cookie domains such as to avoid using the Domain cookie attribute.

You can also consider ensuring full separation using the domain hierarchy, for example by putting your production service on www.myservice.service.gov.uk.

You can manage all of these records from your production Route 53 configuration pipeline, even though they relate to other environments.

If your service has more complex needs you may alternatively delegate the zone for a subdomain to an AWS account that relates specifically to that environment.

Internal GDS services

You must host internal GDS services on subdomains of the internal.digital.gov.uk domain.

You may continue to use digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk for existing services, for a transitional period.

You must not use the internal.digital.gov.uk domain for services where the intended users are outside of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This includes:

public-facing GOV.UK transactional services
services intended primarily for citizens, businesses, or external organisations including government departments other than DCMS
user journeys designed for open public interaction

These should instead use appropriate public domains (for example subdomains under service.gov.uk).

This does not mean that services on this domain must necessarily be access-controlled, because we work in the open.

Once you have configured your Route 53 hosted zone, you’ll need to contact Engineering Enablement to request delegation of your subdomain.

You must follow the GDS brand guidance for services that are accessible by the public but which don’t use the GOV.UK brand.

Restrictions on non-production environments

You may use subdomains of internal.digital.gov.uk for non-production environments associated with an internal GDS service, such as development, test, staging, or preview.

For example, if your production service is hosted at my-service.internal.digital.gov.uk, you may also use subdomains such as:

dev.my-service.internal.digital.gov.uk
staging.my-service.internal.digital.gov.uk

You must not host non-production environments for other services on subdomains of internal.digital.gov.uk.

This page was last reviewed on 18 August 2026. It needs to be reviewed again on 18 August 2027 by the page owner #gds-way .