Configure custom domain with Route 53 and ACM

[ibrahimcesar]

Description

Set up a custom domain for the interactive platform with SSL certificate.

Proposed Domain Options

• commons.ibrahimcesar.com (subdomain)
• categories-of-the-commons.dev (new domain)
• Or another preferred domain

Tasks

1. Domain Registration/Setup

• Choose domain name
• Register domain (if new) or configure existing DNS

2. SSL Certificate (ACM)

• Request certificate in us-east-1 (required for CloudFront)

  aws acm request-certificate \
    --domain-name commons.example.com \
    --validation-method DNS \
    --region us-east-1

• Add DNS validation record to Route 53
• Wait for certificate validation (can take 30+ minutes)

3. Route 53 Hosted Zone

• Create hosted zone (if new domain)
• Note NS records for domain registrar

4. Update CDK Stack

• Add domain name configuration
• Reference ACM certificate
• Add Route 53 alias record

Example CDK addition:

const certificate = acm.Certificate.fromCertificateArn(
  this, 'Certificate', 'arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:...'
);

const distribution = new cloudfront.Distribution(this, 'Distribution', {
  // ... existing config
  domainNames: ['commons.example.com'],
  certificate,
});

new route53.ARecord(this, 'AliasRecord', {
  zone: hostedZone,
  target: route53.RecordTarget.fromAlias(
    new targets.CloudFrontTarget(distribution)
  ),
});

5. Deploy and Verify

• Redeploy CDK stack
• Verify HTTPS works on custom domain
• Update CORS settings if needed
• Update API base URL in frontend config

Acceptance Criteria

• Custom domain resolves to CloudFront distribution
• HTTPS certificate valid (no browser warnings)
• All routes work on custom domain
• API endpoints accessible via domain

Related Files

• interactive/infra/lib/interactive-stack.ts

Dependencies

• Deploy CDK infrastructure to AWS #29 Deploy CDK infrastructure to AWS
• Deploy frontend to S3/CloudFront #30 Deploy frontend to S3/CloudFront