What Are the .well-known and acme-challenge Directories Under My Account?
All of our shared, semi-dedicated, and reseller hosting plans include a feature known as AutoSSL. AutoSSL automatically installs signed, trusted, and secure SSL certificates on all domains hosted from your account. These SSL certificates are issued by Let’s Encrypt.
Why These Directories Exist
Section titled “Why These Directories Exist”When Let’s Encrypt installs your certificate(s), it authenticates the domain through the ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment) protocol and domain validation. The Let’s Encrypt Certificate Authority (CA) issues one or more sets of challenges to verify that you control the domain. The validation files for these challenges are placed in the .well-known/acme-challenge directory.
This is why you will see the following directory structure under your account:
.well-known/ acme-challenge/Further Reading
Section titled “Further Reading”For more technical details about the ACME validation process, visit https://letsencrypt.org/how-it-works/.