Render private networking

Render’s private network lets services talk to each other without exposing traffic on the public internet. Use this skill when users need internal connectivity, discovery across scaled instances, or correct URL/port behavior for Blueprints and the Dashboard.

When to Use This Skill

• Designing or debugging service-to-service traffic on Render
• Questions about internal hostnames, internal URLs, or Connect > Internal in the Dashboard
• Service discovery across multiple instances (custom load balancing, mesh-style setups)
• Port limits, reserved ports, or multi-port web services (public vs private)
• Free-tier web services and who can send vs receive private traffic
• Environment isolation (with a Pro workspace or higher) or AWS PrivateLink for private egress/ingress patterns

For step-by-step architecture examples and Blueprint patterns, see references/communication-patterns.md. For failure modes and fixes, see references/troubleshooting.md.

Private Network Basics

Private connectivity is available only when all of the following hold:

• Services are in the same region
• Services are in the same workspace

If either differs, private DNS and internal routing will not connect those services.

Who can communicate

Free-tier Web Services: They may send private traffic to other services, but they cannot receive inbound private traffic. Plan upgrades or topology changes apply if a free web service must accept private connections.

Workers, crons, and workflow runs initiate outbound connections (e.g., to internal URLs or private service hostnames) but are not reachable by internal hostname for inbound calls.

Internal Addresses

• Open the service in the Render Dashboard → Connect → Internal tab for the canonical internal hostname, URL, and connection details.
• Clients often need an explicit scheme in code or config, e.g. http://service-name:port or https://... when TLS applies—do not assume a bare hostname alone is enough for every HTTP client.
• URL shape: http://[internal-hostname]:[port]/path (adjust scheme/port per service).

Service Discovery

For services with multiple instances, Render exposes a discovery DNS name that resolves to all instance IPs for that service. The pattern is [hostname]-discovery (see Dashboard docs for the exact hostname shown for your service).

• RENDERDISCOVERYSERVICE is set in environments where discovery applies; use it with the discovery hostname pattern for scripts and app code that need instance lists.
• Use case: Custom load balancing, health aggregation, or any logic that must fan out or pick among instances explicitly instead of a single internal hostname.

See references/communication-patterns.md for discovery-oriented patterns.

Port Rules

• Maximum 75 open ports per service.
• Reserved ports (do not bind your app to these for normal use): 10000 (public HTTP proxy path), 18012, 18013, 19099.
• Multi-port Web Services: Only one port receives public HTTP traffic; that port must align with the PORT environment variable. Additional ports are for private network access only.

When something fails to connect, verify the target is listening on the expected port and that the port is not reserved or blocked by misconfiguration.

Environment Isolation

With a Pro workspace or higher, you can configure per-environment rules so private traffic does not cross certain environment boundaries. If private calls work in one environment but not another, check workspace environment isolation settings before assuming DNS or app bugs.

AWS PrivateLink

Pro workspaces or higher can use AWS PrivateLink to extend private connectivity to or from external AWS VPCs and approved endpoints. This is separate from default service-to-service private DNS; use it when the architecture requires private access to Render or from Render to specific AWS resources without the public internet.

Common Patterns

Short summaries; full diagrams and Blueprint notes live in references/communication-patterns.md.

1. Web gateway + private backends — Public Web Service terminates HTTP; internal calls use private hostnames and ports to Private Services or internal URLs.
2. Worker to database — Background Worker (no internal hostname) connects outbound to Postgres or Key Value internal URLs.
3. Microservices — Private Services (and eligible Web Services) call each other by internal hostname:port on the private network.

References

Related Skills

• render-web-services — Public web services, PORT, and HTTP behavior
• render-private-services (planned) — Private Service–specific setup and scaling
• render-blueprints — render.yaml, fromService, and multi-service wiring