Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is RndrKit?

RndrKit is a pre-rendering service that makes single-page applications (SPAs) visible to search engines. It sits between your visitors and your website, serving fully rendered HTML to search engine bots while transparently proxying human visitors to your origin server. No code changes are required -- you just update your DNS.

Who is RndrKit for?

RndrKit is built for anyone with a JavaScript-heavy website that needs to appear in search results. This includes sites built with React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, and AI website builders like Lovable and Bolt. It is especially useful for agencies managing multiple client sites.

Do I need to change my application code?

No. RndrKit works entirely at the infrastructure level. You point your DNS to RndrKit, and it handles bot detection and rendering externally. Your application code stays the same.

Does RndrKit work with my hosting provider?

Yes. RndrKit works with any hosting provider as your origin. Common origins include Lovable, Vercel, Netlify, AWS, and any custom server. As long as your origin is accessible over HTTPS, RndrKit can proxy to it.

Setup

How long does setup take?

Most setups take 5-15 minutes. The steps are: add your domain in the dashboard, create a CNAME record at your DNS provider, and wait for propagation. SSL is provisioned automatically.

Do I need to use the www subdomain?

We recommend using www.example.com as your primary domain because CNAME records work most reliably on subdomains. If someone visits the apex domain (example.com), RndrKit automatically redirects them to the www version. See DNS Configuration for details.

How do I handle the apex domain (example.com without www)?

Set up a DNS record for the apex domain that points to RndrKit. On Cloudflare, use a CNAME with CNAME flattening. On other providers, use an A record. RndrKit will redirect apex visitors to www.example.com with a 301 redirect.

Can I use Cloudflare with RndrKit?

Yes, but you must disable Cloudflare's proxy (orange cloud) for the RndrKit CNAME record. Set it to DNS only (gray cloud). If the proxy is enabled, Cloudflare intercepts traffic before it reaches RndrKit, which breaks bot detection and SSL provisioning.

Pre-rendering

Which bots does RndrKit detect?

RndrKit detects over 100 bot user-agents, including all major search engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex), social media crawlers (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Discord, Slack), AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot), and SEO tools (Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog). See Bot Detection for the full list.

How fast are pre-rendered responses?

Cached responses are served in under 50ms. Fresh renders (cache misses) take 2-5 seconds depending on page complexity. The cache has a 1-hour TTL, so most bot visits get the fast cached response.

Does pre-rendering slow down my site for human visitors?

No. Human visitors are proxied directly to your origin server with negligible latency overhead (typically 5-20ms). They never interact with the rendering pipeline.

Does RndrKit render JavaScript?

Yes. RndrKit uses Puppeteer (headless Chromium) to fully render your pages, including executing JavaScript, making API calls, and waiting for dynamic content to load. The resulting HTML snapshot is what search engines see.

What about pages behind authentication?

Pages that require login will not render correctly because the Puppeteer renderer does not have authentication credentials. Ensure your public pages are accessible without authentication. Private pages should not be indexed by search engines anyway.

Cache

How long is content cached?

Rendered HTML is cached in Redis with a 1-hour TTL (time-to-live). After one hour, the cache entry expires and the next bot visit triggers a fresh render.

Can I clear the cache manually?

Yes. You can purge individual pages or all cached pages from the dashboard or via the API. See Purging Cache.

What is cache warming?

Cache warming is proactively rendering pages before bots visit them. This ensures instant responses for the first bot visit instead of a 2-5 second render delay. See Cache Warming.

Do cached pages count against my render limit?

No. Only cache misses (fresh renders) count against your monthly render limit. Serving a cached page does not consume a render.

SEO

Will RndrKit improve my Google rankings?

RndrKit ensures that Google can see your full page content, meta tags, and structured data. If your SPA was previously invisible to Google due to JavaScript rendering issues, you should see significant improvements in indexing and rankings after enabling RndrKit.

Does RndrKit handle meta tags and Open Graph tags?

Yes. The renderer captures all meta tags, including those injected by libraries like React Helmet. This means your title tags, meta descriptions, Open Graph tags, and Twitter Cards will all be present in the pre-rendered HTML served to bots.

Can I use RndrKit with Google Search Console?

Yes. Submit your sitemap through Google Search Console as normal. Google will crawl your site and receive pre-rendered HTML. You can use the URL Inspection tool to verify that Google sees your full page content.

Does RndrKit support structured data (JSON-LD)?

Yes. JSON-LD scripts embedded in your pages are included in the pre-rendered HTML. Google and other search engines will be able to parse your structured data for rich results.

Billing

What counts as a render?

A render is counted each time Puppeteer generates a fresh HTML snapshot. Cache hits do not count. Cache warming does count. See Plans and Pricing for details.

What happens if I exceed my render limit?

Cached pages continue to be served normally. New renders (cache misses) are paused -- those requests are proxied to your origin instead. Your limit resets at the start of the next billing period.

Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?

Yes, at any time. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades take effect at the next billing period. See Upgrading.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. New accounts receive a free trial with Pro-level features so you can fully evaluate the service before choosing a plan.

Technical

Where is RndrKit hosted?

RndrKit runs on AWS Lightsail with infrastructure managed by Docker Compose, Nginx, and Caddy. SSL certificates are provisioned via Let's Encrypt.

Is RndrKit reliable? What about uptime?

RndrKit is designed for high availability. If the rendering service is temporarily unavailable, bot traffic is proxied to your origin server as a fallback -- your site continues to work. Human traffic is never affected by renderer issues.

Can I use RndrKit with multiple domains?

Yes. The number of domains depends on your plan: Starter (1 domain), Pro (3 domains), Agency (10 domains), Agency+ (unlimited). See Plans and Pricing.

Does RndrKit support internationalized domains?

Yes. RndrKit supports IDN (Internationalized Domain Names) as long as they resolve correctly via DNS.

How do I test that pre-rendering is working?

Simulate a bot request using curl:

curl -s -A "Googlebot/2.1" "https://www.example.com/" | head -50

You should see fully rendered HTML with your page content. Compare it with a normal request (without the Googlebot user-agent) to see the difference.