---
id: certbot-dns-directadmin
version: "1.0.27"
license: unclear
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: active
---

# certbot-dns-directadmin — Certbot plugin.  Allows completing DNS01 challenge against a DirectAdmin Server

License: unclear · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 714.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This is a Certbot plugin that bridges Let's Encrypt certificate automation with DirectAdmin DNS management. It implements the DNS-01 ACME challenge protocol, allowing you to prove domain ownership by adding DNS records—useful when your service runs on a different server than the one hosting your domain's DNS in DirectAdmin. The plugin integrates with Certbot and relies on acme, certbot, cryptography, and jinja2 to handle the certificate lifecycle and DNS record manipulation.

You install it alongside Certbot, configure it with DirectAdmin API credentials, and then use Certbot's standard commands to request certificates (including wildcards). The plugin automatically creates and removes the required DNS validation records, eliminating manual DNS updates and enabling fully automated certificate renewal.

Use it for:

- Automate wildcard certificate issuance for services on non-DirectAdmin servers with DirectAdmin-managed domains.
- Set up unattended Let's Encrypt certificate renewal for applications running outside DirectAdmin infrastructure.
- Validate domain ownership via DNS when you cannot modify the web server's DirectAdmin configuration.
- Integrate DirectAdmin DNS management into a CI/CD pipeline for automated certificate provisioning.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

A Certbot plugin that automates DNS-01 challenge completion for Let's Encrypt certificate issuance when your domain is managed in DirectAdmin but your service runs elsewhere.

Yes, if you manage domains in DirectAdmin but run services elsewhere and need automated Let's Encrypt certificates. The low install friction, active maintenance status, and absence of known vulnerabilities support adoption. However, verify the license terms first (they are currently unclear in the metadata) and confirm Python version compatibility with your environment, since the package caps at Python <3.12.0.

## Install

pip install certbot-dns-directadmin
uv add certbot-dns-directadmin
poetry add certbot-dns-directadmin

## Installing certbot-dns-directadmin

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Marked active with a recent release (63 days ago). Requires Python >3.9.1 and <3.12.0, which covers current stable versions but excludes Python 3.12 and later.

License in practice: License treatment is unclear—no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available in the package metadata. Verify the actual license terms before use in proprietary or restricted contexts.

Quickstart:

pip install certbot-dns-directadmin

from certbot_dns_directadmin import directadmin

# Configure with DirectAdmin credentials and run certbot with the plugin
certbot certonly --dns-directadmin --dns-directadmin-credentials /path/to/creds.ini -d example.com

Requires Python >3.9.1 and <3.12.0; DirectAdmin API credentials must be configured before use.

Verify before relying:

- Exact license terms and compatibility with commercial/proprietary use
- Whether the package works with Python 3.12+ despite the version cap
- Maintenance cadence and responsiveness to security issues in Certbot or ACME

## Package facts

- License: not declared (unclear)
- Python support: capped_below_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 714.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

certbot directadmin dns plugin, let's encrypt wildcard directadmin, dns-01 challenge directadmin, automated ssl certificate directadmin, acme dns validation directadmin, dns-automation, ssl-tls, directadmin

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/certbot-dns-directadmin) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/certbot-dns-directadmin/)