HEIMWALL Developer Documentation

This is the HEIMWALL developer documentation — a complete reference for WAF, DNS, SSL and performance. For what HEIMWALL is and how it works, see What is HEIMWALL?. Start with the quick setup below, or browse the topics.

Quick Start

The WAF needs no installation. Point your existing A/AAAA record to the HEIMWALL edge IP — that’s all.

1. Add your domain

   Log in to the console at https://cloud.heimwall.net/. In the WAF Zone section of the dashboard (My Resources), click New, enter your domain in the New WAF Zone dialog and click Create. Detailed guide: Add a Domain →

2. Update your A/AAAA record

   Open Console → WAF → [domain] → Addresses. Under “HEIMWALL addresses your domain should point to”, set the listed IPv4 addresses as A records and IPv6 addresses as AAAA records at your current DNS provider. Once the records propagate, the status badge switches automatically to “Routing verified”. Detailed guide: DNS Setup →

3. The WAF activates automatically

   Once routing is verified, managed rules and bot protection kick in. Optional: add a custom rule at Console → WAF → [domain] → Rules → + New Rule.

4. SSL

   When the WAF is active, ECDSA and RSA certificates are obtained automatically and renewed before expiry.

Topics

WAF & Rule Engine

30 fields, 14 operators. Filter incoming traffic by IP, country, bot score, User-Agent and HTTP headers. Rules propagate to all edge servers within seconds.

Go to the Rule Engine →

DNS & Geo-routing

Manage all record types with RuleDNS. When the WAF proxy is active, geo-routing kicks in automatically — no manual configuration needed.

Go to DNS Management →

SSL & TLS

Automatic ECDSA + RSA dual certificates. Let’s Encrypt and ZeroSSL support. TLS 1.3 with a post-quantum key exchange.

Go to SSL Management →

DDoS & Bot Protection

Real-time bot score (0–100), 17 bot categories, VPN/Proxy/Tor detection. L7 DDoS protection.

Go to Bot Score →

Performance

CDN, smart caching, load balancing and waiting room. Image optimization and HTML/CSS/JS minification at the edge.

Go to Cache Management →

Integrations

Real-time event notifications via webhooks. Structured log streams and analytics reports.

Go to Webhooks →

Seconds-level propagation

Every change you make in the console — a rule, a certificate, a cache setting — propagates to all HEIMWALL edge servers within seconds.

DNS options

You can use HEIMWALL with your current DNS provider or with HEIMWALL Managed DNS:

Option	How it works	Setup
Your own DNS provider	You stay with your provider; only your A/AAAA records point to the HEIMWALL addresses	DNS Setup →
HEIMWALL Managed DNS	All your DNS records are managed in the HEIMWALL console; address routing is automatic, geo-routing and origin health checks included	DNS Management →

Switching to Managed DNS does not disrupt your existing setup: when you add a domain that already has a WAF Zone as a DNS Zone, your rules and origin settings are preserved as they are.