Web forwarding (free URL redirect)

Web Forwarding: Redirect Your Domain to Any URL (Free)

Web forwarding points a domain you own at any other web address. Someone visits yourdomain.com and lands on the target you choose, with automatic HTTPS and nothing to host. It is free on every domain at OSIR, set up in a couple of clicks. Use it for a link-in-bio page, a marketplace store, a booking system, a campaign microsite, or a short memorable name that should open a longer URL.

What you get

Feature	Detail
Free forwarding	Included on every domain, no add-on
Automatic HTTPS	TLS certificate issued and renewed for you
301 or 302	Choose permanent (cached, SEO-passing) or temporary
Preserve path	Optionally carry the visitor's path to the target
www included	Forward both `yourdomain.com` and `www.yourdomain.com`

Requirement: the domain must use OSIR nameservers (ns1.osir.com / ns3.osir.com) so we can point its root A record at the forwarding server. This is the default for domains registered with us.

Turn it on

Open the domain in your dashboard and click Web Forwarding.
In Target URL, enter the full destination including the scheme, e.g. https://osir.com. A bare example.com without https:// is rejected.
Choose a Redirect type (see below).
Set Preserve path and query and Also forward www to taste.
Click Save Changes. The status shows Active once the DNS and certificate are live.

Give it a short while after saving: DNS needs to propagate and the HTTPS certificate is issued on the first visit, so the very first load can take a moment.

301 or 302?

301 Permanent (recommended) is cached hard by browsers and search engines and passes SEO signals. Use it for a permanent move.
302 Temporary is not cached. Use it while testing or if the destination may change.

Preserve path and query

When on, the path a visitor arrives with is appended to your target, so yourdomain.com/summer?ref=x forwards to target.com/summer?ref=x.

Forwarding to a whole site (a root like https://shop.com)? Leave it on.
Forwarding to one exact page (https://site.com/store/Index.htm)? Turn it off. Left on, a visit to your root becomes https://site.com/store/Index.htm/ (an extra slash) and the destination 404s. This is the single most common forwarding mistake.

My forward stopped working

Almost always because the domain's nameservers were changed away from OSIR. Forwarding relies on our nameservers to point the domain's A record at the forwarding server. When DNS drifts away, the forward auto-suspends; it auto-restores the moment the nameservers point back to ns1.osir.com / ns3.osir.com. Other causes:

Conflicting apex record - if you replaced the root A record with your own hosting IP, the forward drifts. Use forwarding or host at the root, not both.
Missing scheme in the target - include https://.
Loop - forwarding a domain to itself (or its www) is rejected at setup.

Automate it

Web forwarding can be managed programmatically through the API and MCP tools, so an AI assistant or script can set a target and redirect type for you. New to DNS? Read Managing DNS records and the blog guide Web Forwarding Explained.