Self-hosted website setup

Self-hosted does not require one specific integration. Choose the path based on what you control and whether a separate public origin is available.

Path 1: managed DNS

Use managed DNS when your app can remain reachable at a separate origin hostname.

1. Keep the application available at origin.example.com or another stable public origin URL.
2. Add that URL as the site origin in Prerender Buddy.
3. Point www to customers.prerenderbuddy.com.
4. Redirect the root domain to www.
5. Add the validation TXT records and verify the installation.

The origin must not redirect back to the protected public hostname for every request. That can create a loop.

Path 2: server-side integration

Use a developer integration when you control the application server, edge middleware, or reverse proxy and want to keep the current DNS route.

The integration should:

• detect only supported crawler requests
• send public GET page URLs to the Prerender Buddy render endpoint
• keep the API key server-side
• skip assets, API routes, webhooks, authentication pages, and private content
• return the normal application to human visitors
• use the setup-specific code generated in the Prerender Buddy dashboard

Render API contract

1GET https://api.prerenderbuddy.com/render?url=https://www.example.com/page
2X-Prerender-Token: YOUR_SERVER_SIDE_API_KEY

Never place the API key in browser JavaScript, a public repository, or a client-exposed environment variable.

Which path should you use?

After setup, compare a normal request with Googlebot or GPTBot and confirm the crawler response contains real headings and page copy.