Getting Started

Based on release v1.14.4. Building from source assumes a working Go 1.25.0 or newer toolchain.

Prerequisites

Go 1.25.0 or newer, since src/go.mod:5 pins that minimum (src/README.md:60).
make and git.
A port to bind to. CoreDNS listens on port 53 by default, which usually needs elevated privileges; the example below uses a high port to avoid that.

Build the binary from source (src/README.md:62-68):

bash

git clone https://github.com/coredns/coredns
cd coredns
make

This produces a coredns binary in the repository root.

The goal is a resolver that forwards every query to a public upstream and logs what it does.

Write a Corefile. The block .:1053 serves the root zone on port 1053, forwards to 8.8.8.8, and enables logging and error reporting.
text
```
.:1053 {
    forward . 8.8.8.8
    log
    errors
}
```
Start CoreDNS against that Corefile.
bash
```
./coredns -conf Corefile
```
In another terminal, query it. Any DNS client works; dig is shown here.
bash
```
dig @127.0.0.1 -p 1053 example.com
```

You should get an answer section for example.com, and the CoreDNS terminal should print a log line for the query.

The log plugin prints one line per query, so a successful dig produces a matching log entry in the CoreDNS output.
Add the prometheus plugin to a block to expose metrics, then check that the metrics endpoint responds; the address is configured in the Corefile (the default is localhost:9153).
A non-zero exit on startup usually means a Corefile parse error or a port already in use.

Plugin reference and configuration syntax: coredns.io/plugins.
Out-of-tree plugins: coredns.io/explugins.
For Kubernetes, CoreDNS is deployed as the cluster DNS add-on (via Helm or the cluster manifests), where the kubernetes plugin resolves cluster.local. Consult the Kubernetes and CoreDNS docs for production concerns such as scaling, autoscaling, and security hardening.