: Must I use a Top Level Domain (TLD) for localhost websites? I've always used name.dev for local development, but since Google Chrome 63 update, out December 2017, domains with .dev are in the

@Ann8826881

The domain name in the URL name/ does have a TLD, or rather: it consists only of a TLD (name). It would be name./ as FQDN, but the variant without the . typically works in browsers, too.

While it’s uncommon that TLD owners make the TLD itself resolvable, some do. For example, this was the case with to/, and it still is the case with dk/.

As of posting this answer, you can test it yourself: dk/ (currently redirects to a third-level domain name).

So is it "okay" to use them?


No, if you want to prevent the possibility of getting surprised again in the future. The project name you choose could become a TLD, and this TLD could itself become resolvable. To be safe, stick with the reserved TLDs.
Yes, if you can live with this risk. But if you use non-reserved TLDs, it might be a good idea to configure your system in such a way that DNS requests to these TLDs won’t go out.

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@Becky754

Yes. Depending.

Client Side:

Most OSs allow for the editing of the hosts or hosts.txt file to associate a network name or domain name with an IP address. This is a client side option. You would do this on your desktop computer so that it knows how to address the request packet. Here is more detailed information including example settings.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)
You can configure another name for localhost, however, just adding a name will allow you to access the web server from a client on the same network. You would have to make this entry for all of the computers you expect to use in this manner. Assuming you are a developer, this is often the case where the client and web server are two different computers. Do not expect this to always work through a firewall over the Internet. It can, however, some firewalls may not allow it.

You can set your computer to use a search domain to append a domain name to the short name you provide. There is an excellent answer here for this. serverfault.com/questions/23397/resolving-host-names-to-their-domain-name-in-an-internal-bind-domain/23401#23401 This also requires a configuration change per computer that you intend to use in this manner.

Server Side:

The problem begins with the web server. The assumption is that the web server can handle the name. Certainly, myawesomesite.test can easily be configured as a site. However, myawesomesite without the TLD may not be configurable. There are ways around this.

For example, with Apache, when a request packet comes in, Apache will try and match it with a configured site. If it cannot, it will serve the first site created. Often, this will be configured as a catch-all site intended to capture invalid requests and IP address only requests. This is not always done. However, the first site created can always be used for any site that cannot be properly configured by name or IP address only sites. Other web servers do this as well.

Certainly, any Apache server can be reconfigured to add a catch-all site where one does not exist. I cover some configuration examples here where a catch-all site exists. Virtualhost config: routing and wildcard usage Always take this task on with caution. You will likely have to experiment if you are not familiar with Apache configuration. And as always, Apache will have to be restarted before the configuration changes are taken in consideration.

As @StephenOstermiller points out in the comments, any existing site can simply have 'ServerAlias' set to an alternative name such as myawesomesite.test. He also points out that a shorter name can be used. I have not ever tried this. It costs relatively nothing to try it.

IIS should be able to use a NetBios name. If you are using a Windows network, you can look into this and it should do what you want.

For other web servers, I cannot give advice. Sorry. However, there is likely an answer if you research.

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