Question

How to send the correct IP Address from my NextJS app on App Platform

Posted on April 3, 2025
Next.js Networking App Platform
Asked by Manuel Maldonado

I’m having issues making sure that Digital Ocean sends the correct Client IP Address whenever I make a server side request from nextjs to another app.

x-forwarded-for and do-connecting-ip seem to be sending IPs from digital ocean/cloudfare instead of the IP addresses of the client that made the request.

I already debugged this and the server side request is sending the right IP addresses, but digital ocean seems to be switching them when the request is actually sent.

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• April 12, 2025

Hey Manuel!

That does sound like what usually happens on App Platform, as traffic flows through Cloudflare and DigitalOcean’s infrastructure, headers like x-forwarded-for or do-connecting-ip might not always reflect the original client IP.

Usually, the first IP in the x-forwarded-for header is the actual client’s, but that might vary depending on how requests are being handled or proxied.

If you’re already passing the right IP and it’s getting swapped out later, it could be something internal to how App Platform manages outbound requests. You might want to reach out to the DigitalOcean support directly, they should be able to confirm if there’s any rewriting happening on their end.

Let me know how it goes, this could help others too!

- Bobby