Start Certificate

Start a Let’s Encrypt certificate request for a domain. This is Step 1 of the zero-downtime domain connection flow. Returns a TXT record that the user must add to their DNS to verify domain ownership.

Why Let’s Encrypt?

We use Let’s Encrypt instead of Amazon ACM because:

Universal compatibility: Let’s Encrypt is allowed by ALL DNS providers
No CAA conflicts: Some providers (Vercel, Netlify) have CAA records that block Amazon
Fast issuance: Certificates are issued in seconds after DNS verification

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`org_id`	string	Yes	Clerk organization slug

Example Request

curl -X POST https://searchcompany-main.up.railway.app/api/domain/start-certificate/my-company-123456 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Example Response

{
  "txt_record_name": "_acme-challenge.www.example.com",
  "txt_record_value": "abc123xyz789...",
  "order_url": "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/order/...",
  "authorization_url": "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/authz/...",
  "challenge_url": "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/chall/...",
  "finalize_url": "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/finalize/..."
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`txt_record_name`	string	DNS TXT record name to add
`txt_record_value`	string	DNS TXT record value
`order_url`	string	ACME order URL (for tracking)
`authorization_url`	string	ACME authorization URL
`challenge_url`	string	ACME challenge URL
`finalize_url`	string	ACME finalize URL

What Happens Next

User adds the TXT record via Entri
Frontend calls /complete-certificate to validate and issue the cert
Certificate is imported to ACM and attached to CloudFront
User can then switch their www CNAME to CloudFront (zero downtime!)

Frontend Integration

// Step 1: Start certificate request
const certReq = await startCertificate(orgSlug, token);

// Step 2: Launch Entri with TXT record
const dnsRecords = [{
  type: "TXT",
  host: "_acme-challenge.www",  // extracted from txt_record_name
  value: certReq.txt_record_value,
  ttl: 300
}];
Entri.showEntri({ dnsRecords, ... });

Getting Started

Website

Onboarding

Cron

Your Current Setup

Explore

Settings - Toggle

Settings - Business

Settings - Team

Settings - Billing

Settings - Domain

Webhooks

Health

Manual Trigger

Why Let’s Encrypt?

Path Parameters

Example Request

Example Response

Response Fields

What Happens Next

Frontend Integration

​Why Let’s Encrypt?

​Path Parameters

​Example Request

​Example Response

​Response Fields

​What Happens Next

​Frontend Integration

Why Let’s Encrypt?

Path Parameters

Example Request

Example Response

Response Fields

What Happens Next

Frontend Integration