Help & support

Getting started with Certglimpse, answers to common questions, and what this tool can and cannot do.

Getting started

Go to the Certglimpse app.
Type a hostname (e.g. github.com) into the text field.
Click Check or press Enter.
Read the results: expiry date, days remaining, issuer, SANs, and chain completeness.

That is all there is. No account, no sign-up, no email.

Tip: Try github.com first — it is reachable and returns a complete chain. Then try a hostname you manage. If you see a Cloudflare-related message, see the FAQ below.

Frequently asked questions

What does an incomplete chain mean, and do I need to fix it?

A complete TLS chain has at least two certificates: the leaf (your server's certificate) and the intermediate certificate from the CA. When a server sends only the leaf, desktop browsers often paper over the gap from their cache, but mobile browsers reject the connection outright. If Certglimpse shows fewer than 2 certificates on the wire, your server is missing its intermediate certificate.

How to fix it: Configure your web server to send the intermediate certificate(s) along with the leaf. Most CAs provide a "chain bundle" or "CA bundle" file. On Nginx, set ssl_certificate to the combined file. On Apache, set SSLCertificateChainFile (older versions) or include the chain in SSLCertificateFile. On Caddy, the chain is handled automatically. On a reverse proxy (Nginx, HAProxy, Traefik), ensure the backend server also sends intermediates or the proxy appends them.

My certificate is expired (or about to expire). What do I do?

Certglimpse tells you the expiry date and days remaining, but it cannot renew certificates for you. You need to obtain a new certificate from your CA and install it on your server. Certglimpse is a diagnostic tool — it tells you what is wrong, but the fix is server-side.

If you use:

Let's Encrypt / Certbot: Run certbot renew (or set up automatic renewal).
A cloud provider (AWS, GCP, Azure): Use their certificate manager to issue and attach a new certificate to your load balancer or CDN.
A shared hosting panel (cPanel, Plesk): Use the panel's SSL/TLS section to re-issue or upload a certificate.
A manually managed server: Generate a CSR, get it signed by a CA, and install the resulting certificate and its chain.

After installing, re-check with Certglimpse to confirm the new certificate is being served correctly.

Why can't Certglimpse check hosts behind Cloudflare?

Certglimpse runs on a platform that cannot open a TLS socket back into the Cloudflare edge network. This is a platform limitation, not a finding about your server. When you check a Cloudflare-fronted host, Certglimpse reports it as unreachable.

Workaround: If you control the origin server, check the origin's hostname directly (the Cloudflare dashboard shows the origin IP). Or use Cloudflare's own SSL/TLS analyser in your dashboard. You can verify the principle with example.com (Cloudflare-fronted, unreachable from here) and github.com (reachable).

Do you monitor certificates or send alerts before expiry?

No. Certglimpse is strictly a one-shot diagnostic tool. You ask, it answers. There is no monitoring, no scheduled re-checks, no email alerts, and no dashboard of historical results.

How accurate is the data Certglimpse shows?

Certglimpse reports exactly what the server presented on the wire — nothing more, nothing less. If a field is absent from the certificate, it is shown as Absent. No values are inferred or filled in. The tool reads the certificate chain as the server sends it, byte for byte.

That said, the tool may be unavailable, return incomplete data, or be subject to platform limitations. Certglimpse is provided "as is" without warranty. Always verify critical certificate information through your CA's portal or your server's configuration directly.

Is there an API, CLI, or way to automate checks?

Not currently. Certglimpse is a web-only tool with a single endpoint (/api/check?host=...) that the app page calls. There is no documented API, no rate-limit guarantee, no authentication, and no SLA. We do not recommend scripting against it for production use. A CLI or API may be considered if the tool proves viable, but there is no timeline.

Known limitations

Certglimpse is in an early stage. These are the things it does not do yet, and that you should be aware of:

Cloudflare-fronted hosts are not reachable. The platform cannot open a socket back into Cloudflare. This is documented next to the input field on the app page.
No monitoring, alerts, or re-checks. Every check is a single request. There is no system that watches certificates and notifies you when they are about to expire.
No account system, history, or dashboard. Certglimpse does not store check results. Reloading the page clears everything. There is no way to retrieve a previous check.
One hostname at a time. You cannot scan a subnet, enumerate subdomains, or bulk-check a list of hosts.
No API or CLI. The tool is web-only. There is no documented API for automation.
No email support. There is no support mailbox. See the contact section below.
No legal entity. The operator has not yet registered a company or jurisdiction. Legal terms are provided in good faith but are not yet binding.
No paid plans. All features are free. There are no paid tiers.

Contact us

Certglimpse does not yet have a support mailbox or contact form. Email is not available on this platform. If you have found a genuine bug, have a feature suggestion, or need to report an issue with the tool:

For now, the best way to reach the operator is through the project's issue tracker — if one has been published. No contact address is listed here because no mailbox exists to receive messages.

This is a known gap. The operator plans to add a support channel when the infrastructure for it exists.

If you are reading this as an internal reviewer or the site owner, record a support contact requirement in the project needs list so it is not forgotten.