Get a Free Developer Domain with is-a.dev

As a developer, building a strong personal brand is one of the best investments you can make for your career. We all know that a custom domain name makes your portfolio look much more professional than a generic yourname.vercel.app or github.io link. However, paying for a domain and renewing it every year can be annoying, especially when you are just starting out or testing a new project.

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This is where is-a.dev comes in. It is a fantastic opportunity to get a free developer domain that looks sleek and authoritative. Instead of paying for a .com or .dev, you can register a subdomain like vahid.is-a.dev. It tells the world exactly what you do—you are a developer—and it costs absolutely nothing. In this guide, I will show you how to claim yours and why it is a great choice for your online presence.

What Exactly is is-a.dev?

The is-a.dev service is an open-source project that provides free subdomains specifically for developers. It is not a traditional domain registrar where you pay money. Instead, it is a community-driven platform sponsored by Cloudflare’s Project Alexandria. This ensures the service is fast, secure, and reliable.

The project has been active since 2020 and is maintained by the developer community. The coolest part is the name itself. It creates a sentence about you. For example, jane.is-a.dev literally says "Jane is a developer." This makes it perfect for:

Personal portfolios
Resume websites
Open-source project documentation
Testing environments

Because it is open-source, the registration process is fully transparent. You don't need a credit card; you just need a GitHub account.

How to Register Your Free Domain

Getting your free developer domain is different from buying one on GoDaddy or Namecheap. Since this is a tool for developers, the registration process uses Pull Requests (PR) on GitHub. This might sound technical, but it is actually quite simple and a good way to practice your Git skills.

Here is the step-by-step process to claim your spot:

Find the Repository: Go to the official GitHub repository at github.com/is-a-dev/register.
Fork the Project: Click the "Fork" button to create a copy of the repository in your own GitHub account.
Create Your File: Inside your forked repo, create a new JSON file in the domains folder. The filename should be the domain you want (e.g., yourname.json). Note: The name must be at least 5 characters long.
Add DNS Records: Edit the file to point to your hosting provider. If you are hosting your portfolio on Vercel or GitHub Pages, you will add CNAME or A records here. The documentation at docs.is-a.dev has clear examples.
Submit a Pull Request: Save your changes and open a Pull Request to the main repository.
Wait for Approval: A bot or a maintainer will check your PR. If everything is correct, it will be merged, and your domain will be live in minutes!

If you are new to DNS records or need help setting up the underlying website first, feel free to read more about my Services where I help architect these kinds of systems.

Why Use is-a.dev for Your Portfolio?

You might wonder if a free domain is "professional" enough. Based on recent feedback from the developer community in 2025, the answer is yes. Using an is-a.dev domain shows that you are part of the tech community. It is a "flex" that you know how to use GitHub and understand open-source culture.

Here are a few technical benefits:

DNS Control: You get full control over your records. You can point the domain to anywhere you want.
Security: Being backed by Cloudflare infrastructure means you get enterprise-grade reliability.
Community Support: If you get stuck, there is an active Discord server and GitHub community to help you out.

However, keep in mind that these domains are for non-commercial use. You cannot use them to sell products or run a business. They are strictly for personal branding and open-source projects. If you need a commercial solution, you might want to look at paid options or contact me for advice on professional infrastructure.

Conclusion

The is-a.dev project is a perfect example of developers helping developers. It lowers the barrier to entry for building a personal brand and gives you a cool, unique URL that stands out on a resume.

If you have been procrastinating on launching your portfolio because you didn't want to buy a domain, you now have no excuses. Go fork the repo, claim your name, and start building in public.

Do you have your domain but no website to put on it? I specialize in building high-performance Next.js applications that rank well and look great. Check out my About Page to see my background, or get in touch to start a project together.