What is a .well-known folder and how to create it?

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This quick guide answers one of the most common questions during a Domain Control Validation (DCV): What is a .well-known folder? You'll also learn how to create a .well-known folder on your server and why you need one in the first place.

Table of contents

What is the .well-known folder?
What should be placed in the .well-known directory?
How to create .well-know folder?
What is the .well-known folder?
In the ~/public directory on your server, you can find a .well-known folder . Well-known URIs are uniform resource identifiers for known services or information that are consistently available on all servers at a URL.

Some servers create the .well-known folder automatically, but sometimes you may need to add it manually. This directory acts as a web protocol to retrieve site metadata about the host before making a request.

What is the .well-known folder used for?
When ordering an SSL certificate, you must verify mobile app development service domain ownership as part of the DCV. If you choose the HTTP/HTTPS method , you will need to create a .well-known directory - a folder where you must upload a TEXT file so that the CA can verify and approve your SSL request.

The file must be accessible via a live link on the site. Once you add the verification file, the CA crawler system will scan your site and look for this file. Once it finds it, you will pass the domain verification within a few minutes.

What should be placed in the .well-known directory?
To verify that you own a domain name using the HTTP method, you need to upload a TXT file to a location on your site and server that looks like this:




As you can see from the URL path, you should place the file in the .well-known folder and the pki-validation subfolder of the document root directory for the domain name.

You can download the verification file after you select the HTTP method when ordering your SSL certificate. The hash file name is a string of random characters. You must download it as received from the CA, without changing its name or content.

How to create .well-know folder?
To create a known folder, you will need access to your server via an SFTP client, hosting control panel, or any other suitable method.