An alias is a readable label you attach to an environment or to an individual node. The platform identifier (the domain name and the node ID) stays the same — the alias is purely a display affordance to keep you from mis-clicking the wrong node when several look identical.
Aliases pay off most when an environment has multiple same-type nodes — for example, a master and several replicas in a database cluster. Without aliases the dashboard shows them as Node ID: 12345, Node ID: 12346, and so on. With aliases you see db-master, db-replica-1, db-replica-2.
Set an alias on a node
- Open the environment with the same-type nodes and expand the node list for the layer.
- Pick the node you want to label and click the Set Alias pencil icon next to it. (You can also double-click the
Node ID: xxxstring.) - Type the alias into the inline input. The value saves automatically when you click away.
To clear an alias, open the input and remove the value — the default Node ID display returns.
Set an alias on an environment
The same flow applies at the environment level. The internal domain name does not change — only the dashboard label. This is useful when an environment ID is unwieldy and the project has a short, well-known name your team already uses.
Where aliases show up
Once set, an alias appears in every list the platform renders:
- The dashboard environment list and node list.
- The SSH console.
- The shared view that collaborators see.
Aliases follow the environment. They are preserved when you clone the environment and when you transfer it to another account.
When aliases help most
- Stateful clusters — labelling the master and the replicas of a database cluster to avoid running a write against a replica.
- Multi-region setups — labelling environments with the region they serve when the dashboard region icon is not enough.
- Long-lived environments — when the auto-generated environment ID stopped matching the actual project after a rename or a clone.