---
title: DNSLink gateways
description: Use DNSLink to map domain names to IPFS content.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/core-services-preview.png
---

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### Tags

[ DNS ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/search/?tags=DNS) 

# DNSLink gateways

When you set up a gateway with a DNSLink record, that gateway is restricted to a particular piece of content — either a specific Content Identifier (CID) or an Interplanetary Name Service (IPNS) hostname. This is called a restricted gateway.

A restricted gateway differs from a [universal gateway](https://developers.cloudflare.com/web3/ipfs-gateway/concepts/universal-gateway/), which allows users to access any content hosted on the IPFS network.

## What is DNSLink?

Every file on [IPFS](https://developers.cloudflare.com/web3/ipfs-gateway/concepts/ipfs/) is identified by a [CID ↗](https://docs.ipfs.io/concepts/glossary/#cid) — a long string like `bafybeiaysi4s6lnjev27ln5icwm6tueaw2vdykrtjkwiphwekaywqhcjze`. These CIDs are not practical for end users to type or remember, the same way IP addresses (`192.0.2.1`) are not practical compared to domain names (`example.com`).

DNSLink solves this by mapping a human-readable domain name to an IPFS CID through a DNS TXT record. You put your website files into an IPFS directory and create a DNSLink record pointing your domain to that directory's CID. Users then access your site through a readable URL like `https://cf-ipfs.com/ipns/en.wikipedia-on-ipfs.org/`, and the gateway resolves it to the correct CID.

DNSLink also simplifies content updates. When you publish a new version of your site, update the DNSLink record to point to the new CID and the gateway serves the new version automatically — no need to share a new URL.

Note

For additional details, refer to the official [IPFS documentation ↗](https://docs.ipfs.tech/concepts/dnslink/).

## How is it used with Cloudflare?

You have the option to specify the DNSLink when you [create an IPFS gateway](https://developers.cloudflare.com/web3/how-to/manage-gateways/#create-a-gateway), which serves as a custom hostname that directs users to a website already hosted on IPFS.

By default, your DNSLink path is `/ipns/onboarding.ipfs.cloudflare.com`. If you choose to put your website in a different content folder hosted at your own IPFS node or with a pinning service, you will need to specify that value.

For example, the default DNSLink record for `www.example.com` would look like this:

| Record type | Name                      | Content                                      |
| ----------- | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| TXT         | \_dnslink.www.example.com | dnslink=/ipns/onboarding.ipfs.cloudflare.com |

For more details about the DNS records created by the IPFS gateway, refer to [Gateway DNS records](https://developers.cloudflare.com/web3/reference/gateway-dns-records/).

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/directory/","name":"Directory"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/web3/","name":"Web3"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"/web3/ipfs-gateway/","name":"IPFS Gateway"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/web3/ipfs-gateway/concepts/","name":"Concepts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@id":"/web3/ipfs-gateway/concepts/dnslink/","name":"DNSLink gateways"}}]}
```