Documentation

Help & User Guide

Everything you need to set up and manage your domain redirects, short URLs, and analytics.

Getting started

ForwardTo.xyz lets you forward any domain to any URL in seconds — permanent or temporary, full-domain or path-preserving.

1

Sign in to the dashboard

Go to app.forwardto.xyz and log in with your account. First-time visitors will be prompted to create a free account.
2

Add your first domain

On the Domains page, click Add Domain. Enter the source hostname (e.g. go.example.com), the destination URL, and choose a redirect type.
3

Point your DNS

Create a CNAME record in your DNS provider that points your source hostname to cname.forwardto.xyz. See DNS setup below for details.
4

You're live

Once DNS has propagated (usually a few minutes, up to 24–48 hours), visitors to your source domain will be automatically redirected.

Adding a domain

From the Domains page, click Add Domain to open the new domain dialog. Fill in the following fields:

Field	Description	Example
Hostname	The source domain visitors will type or click. Must be a fully-qualified hostname you control.	go.example.com
Redirect to	The full destination URL where visitors will be sent.	https://new-site.com
Method	301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary). See 301 vs 302.	302
Type	Domain, Path, or Shortener — controls whether the URL path is forwarded or the domain acts as a URL shortener. See Redirect types.	path

Each hostname must be unique across the platform. If you try to add a domain already registered by another user, you'll receive a conflict error.

Redirect types

The Type setting controls how the URL path is handled when forwarding.

Path

Path forwarding

The path after the hostname is appended to the destination URL. Use this to move a domain while preserving deep links.

Source →

go.example.com/blog/post-1

Destination →

https://new-site.com/blog/post-1

Domain

Domain redirect

All requests to the source domain — regardless of path — are redirected to the exact destination URL.

Source →

go.example.com/blog/post-1

Destination →

https://new-site.com

Shortener

URL shortener

The domain becomes a short-link host. Each short code you create maps to its own destination. The Redirect to field is not used.

Short link →

s.example.com/abc123

Destination →

https://very-long-destination.com/some/path

301 vs 302 redirects

The Method setting determines the HTTP status code sent to the browser, which affects both browser behavior and search engine indexing.

301 — Permanent

Search engines transfer link equity (PageRank) to the new URL.
Browsers cache the redirect — visitors skip your server on repeat visits.
Hard to reverse — cached redirects in browsers may persist even after you change the rule.

Best for: permanent domain migrations, rebranding, consolidating old URLs.

302 — Temporary

Easy to change — browsers always check back for the current destination.
Search engines keep the original URL indexed rather than replacing it.
Link equity is not transferred to the destination.

Best for: short-term campaigns, A/B testing landing pages, links that may change.

Not sure which to use? Start with 302. You can always change to 301 later once you're confident the redirect is permanent — switching from 301 back to 302 is difficult due to browser caching.

DNS setup

For ForwardTo.xyz to serve the redirect, your domain must resolve to our servers. Create a CNAME record at your DNS provider pointing your source hostname to:

cname.forwardto.xyz

Example DNS record

Type	Name	Value	TTL
CNAME	go	cname.forwardto.xyz	3600

Root domains: Most DNS providers do not allow CNAME records on root/apex domains (e.g. example.com). Use a subdomain such as www, go, or link instead. Some providers (Cloudflare, Route 53) support CNAME flattening for apex domains.

DNS propagation: Changes to DNS records can take 24–48 hours to propagate worldwide, though most providers update within a few minutes.

URL shortener

The URL shortener lets you use a custom domain as a link shortener. Each short URL maps a unique code (e.g. abc123) to a long destination URL. Visiting s.example.com/abc123 redirects the visitor transparently. You can run multiple shortener domains independently — each has its own set of short codes.

Step 1 — Set up a shortener domain

1. Go to Domains and click Add Domain.
2. Enter your hostname (e.g. s.example.com).
3. Set Type to Shortener. The "Redirect to" and "Method" fields are not used and will be hidden.
4. Add a CNAME DNS record pointing to cname.forwardto.xyz (same as any other domain).

Step 2 — Create short URLs

1. Go to Short URLs in the navigation.
2. Select the shortener domain from the dropdown (if you have more than one).
3. Click Add Short URL, enter the destination, and optionally provide a custom code (e.g. docs, sale-2024). If you leave the code blank, a random 6-character code is generated.
4. The resulting short link is shown immediately: s.example.com/<code>.

Short code rules

Codes are unique per shortener domain, but the same code can be reused across different shortener domains.
Codes can contain any URL-safe characters (letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores).
Click counts for short URLs appear in the Redirects column and on the Metrics page.

Managing domains

Editing a domain

On the Domains page, click the ⋮ menu on any row and choose Edit. You can update the destination URL, redirect method, and type. The hostname cannot be changed — delete and recreate the domain if you need a different source hostname.

Deleting a domain

Click the ⋮ menu and choose Delete. You'll be asked to confirm. Once deleted, the redirect stops working immediately. Remember to also remove or update the CNAME record at your DNS provider if the domain is no longer needed.

Redirect count

The Redirects column shows the total number of times visitors have been redirected through that domain. Domains are sorted by redirect count so your most active rules appear at the top.

Metrics

The Metrics page shows click analytics for all your domains and short URLs.

Available charts

Chart	Description
Total redirects	Sum of all clicks in the selected period and filter.
Redirects over time	Line chart of click volume bucketed by day, week, or month.
Top referrers	Bar chart of the top 20 referring hostnames. Clicks with no Referer header appear as Direct.

Filtering

Use the Period dropdown to view the last 30 days, 12 weeks, or 12 months.
Use the Filter dropdown to narrow results to a specific domain or individual short URL. Domains and short URLs are grouped separately in the list.

Redirect events are retained for approximately 13 months. Bot traffic (detected by user-agent) is excluded from all counts.

API keys

API keys let you access the ForwardTo.xyz REST API programmatically — for example, to automate domain management, manage short URLs, or integrate with CI/CD pipelines and scripts. All ForwardTo.xyz keys start with fwd_ so you can identify them at a glance.

Creating an API key

1. Go to API Keys in the dashboard.
2. Click New API Key and enter a descriptive name (e.g. "GitHub Actions").
3. Copy the key shown — it starts with fwd_ and is shown only once. Store it securely (e.g. in your CI secrets).

The full key value is only shown once after creation. If you lose it, delete it and create a new one.

Using an API key

Pass your API key in the X-API-Key header of every request:

X-API-Key: fwd_<your_api_key>

See the API Reference for all available endpoints.

Revoking an API key

On the API Keys page, click the trash icon next to the key you want to delete, then confirm. The key is revoked immediately — any requests using it will receive a 401 Unauthorized response.

FAQ

How long does it take for a redirect to start working after I add a domain?

The redirect rule is active on our servers immediately. However, your DNS change (CNAME record) may take 24–48 hours to propagate, though it usually completes within a few minutes.

Can I redirect a root domain (e.g. example.com without www)?

Most DNS providers do not allow CNAME records on apex/root domains. Some providers (Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, NS1) support "CNAME flattening" or "ALIAS" records that work around this limitation. Check your DNS provider's documentation for details.

My redirect isn't working — what should I check?

Confirm the domain is listed on the Domains page with the correct hostname and destination.
Verify the CNAME record is set correctly using a tool like dnschecker.org.
Wait for DNS propagation — can take 24–48 hours in some cases.
Clear your browser cache or test in a private/incognito window to rule out a cached 301 redirect.

What is the difference between "Domain" and "Path" redirect types?

Path appends the incoming URL path to the destination, so go.example.com/docs → new-site.com/docs. Domain ignores the path and always redirects to the exact destination URL. See Redirect types above.

I set a 301 permanent redirect but want to change it. Will it work?

Our servers will serve the updated rule immediately. However, browsers and CDNs that previously received the 301 response may have cached it and will bypass our servers entirely for some time. Users who haven't visited before (or who clear their cache) will see the new destination right away.

How do I use the API programmatically?

Create an API key in the dashboard under API Keys, then pass it as X-API-Key: fwd_…. See the full API Reference for endpoint details.

Can I use the same short code on two different shortener domains?

Yes. Short codes are unique per domain, so s.example.com/sale and links.other.com/sale can coexist independently.

How do I see analytics for a specific short URL?

Go to the Metrics page and use the Filter dropdown. Short URLs are listed in their own group beneath domains. Select the short URL you want to inspect to scope all charts to that link.

What happens if I delete a shortener domain that still has short URLs?

Deleting a domain removes the redirect rule from our servers immediately, so all short links on that domain will stop resolving. The associated short URL records are removed as well. Make sure to delete or migrate any active short links before removing the domain.