DigitalOcean App Platform automatically provisions and manages SSL certificates for both the default platform-provided domain and any custom domains you attach, with HTTPS enforced by default at the platform's edge.
Custom domains
Under your app's Settings → Domains, add your custom domain and follow the DNS instructions provided. Certificate issuance happens automatically once DNS validation completes, with no manual CSR or certificate upload required.
What's handled automatically
Because the platform terminates TLS and enforces the redirect at its edge before traffic reaches your application, most apps deployed here don't need any additional application-level redirect logic — though it's still worth confirming your application correctly reads the X-Forwarded-Proto header if it needs to know the original protocol for any reason (like generating absolute URLs).
Why most apps here need zero additional redirect configuration
DigitalOcean App Platform terminates TLS and enforces the redirect at its edge before traffic ever reaches your application, meaning most apps deployed here don't need any additional application-level redirect logic at all beyond what the platform already handles automatically.
What to check if a custom domain's certificate seems slow to provision
As with other managed platforms, certificate issuance for a newly added custom domain depends on DNS being correctly pointed first — checking your domain's DNS records against the platform's current documented values is the first troubleshooting step if provisioning seems to be taking longer than expected.
How this platform's approach compares to manually managing a Droplet
App Platform's automatic HTTPS handling is a meaningful simplification compared to manually configuring Certbot and a redirect on a traditional DigitalOcean Droplet — worth factoring into a platform choice if HTTPS configuration simplicity specifically is a priority alongside your other infrastructure needs.
What the platform's build and deploy logs can reveal about certificate provisioning
App Platform's build and deploy logs typically surface specific status information about custom domain and certificate provisioning progress, useful for diagnosing exactly where in the process a slow or stuck domain connection currently stands rather than guessing.
How this platform's approach compares specifically to DigitalOcean's Kubernetes offering
DigitalOcean's managed Kubernetes offering requires considerably more manual TLS configuration (typically via cert-manager, covered in our How-To category) compared to App Platform's fully automatic handling — a meaningful factor when choosing between DigitalOcean's different compute product offerings based on how much infrastructure management you want to take on directly.
Why staging environments on this platform inherit the same automatic HTTPS handling
Any additional environment created on App Platform, whether for staging or preview purposes, receives the same automatic certificate provisioning as production, meaning you can test HTTPS-dependent behavior in a realistic, secured environment before promoting changes to your live production deployment.
A final note on choosing between DigitalOcean's different product tiers for this specific concern
If HTTPS configuration simplicity is a significant factor in your infrastructure decision, App Platform's fully automatic handling is worth weighing against the more manual configuration a traditional Droplet or Kubernetes-based DigitalOcean deployment would require for the identical underlying goal.
What the platform's CLI tool (doctl) can show about certificate status
DigitalOcean's doctl command-line tool can query App Platform deployment and domain status directly, useful for confirming certificate provisioning progress without needing to check the web-based control panel, particularly convenient for anyone already working primarily from the command line.
How this guide applies the same way regardless of which supported language or framework your app uses
App Platform's automatic HTTPS handling operates at the platform's edge layer entirely independent of your application's language or framework — the automatic certificate and redirect behavior described in this guide applies uniformly whether your app runs Node.js, Python, Go, or any other platform-supported runtime.