diff --git a/Rocket.toml b/Rocket.toml
index c9f4df8..5daaaa0 100644
--- a/Rocket.toml
+++ b/Rocket.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 [default]
 secret_key = "8STDFCStGMYGoOq8RJf3JJXsg4p6wZVAph50R3Fbq6U="
+public_url = "http://localhost:8000/"
+
 [default.databases.dolltags]
 url = "postgres://postgres:woofwoof@localhost/dolltags"
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6b8265
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+use rocket::serde::Deserialize;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
+#[serde(crate = "rocket::serde")]
+pub struct Config {
+	pub public_url: String,
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 20f9913..c790731 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use auth::session;
 use cli::check_cli_invocation;
+use config::Config;
 use db::migrate::run_migrations;
 use db::schema::DollTags;
 use rocket::fairing::AdHoc;
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ use routes::{account, admin, error_handlers, form, public};
 
 pub mod auth;
 pub mod cli;
+pub mod config;
 pub mod db;
 pub mod ids;
 pub mod pages;
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@ fn rocket() -> _ {
 	rocket::build()
 		.attach(pages::init_templates())
 		.attach(DollTags::init())
+		.attach(AdHoc::config::<Config>())
 		.attach(AdHoc::try_on_ignite("SQLx migrations", run_migrations))
 		.attach(AdHoc::on_liftoff("CLI invocation hack", |rocket| {
 			Box::pin(async move { check_cli_invocation(rocket).await })
diff --git a/src/pages.rs b/src/pages.rs
index 80ca95c..8f6c8e7 100644
--- a/src/pages.rs
+++ b/src/pages.rs
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@ use rocket::{
 	outcome::try_outcome,
 	request::{FromRequest, Outcome},
 	serde::Serialize,
-	Request,
+	Request, State,
 };
 use rocket_dyn_templates::{tera::try_get_value, Template};
 use serde_json::{to_value, Value};
 
-use crate::{auth::session::Session, db::schema::User, ids};
+use crate::{auth::session::Session, config::Config, db::schema::User, ids};
 
 pub fn init_templates() -> impl Fairing {
 	Template::custom(|engines| {
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ pub struct CommonTemplateState {
 	pub is_admin: bool,
 	/// feature flag - disables the UI for it since it's not implemeted yet.
 	pub forgot_password_implemented: bool,
+	/// the website's public base URL (used for canonical URLs)
+	pub public_url: String,
 }
 
 impl CommonTemplateState {
@@ -55,11 +57,13 @@ impl<'r> FromRequest<'r> for CommonTemplateState {
 
 	async fn from_request(request: &'r Request<'_>) -> Outcome<CommonTemplateState, ()> {
 		let session_state = try_outcome!(request.guard::<Session>().await);
+		let config_state = try_outcome!(request.guard::<&State<Config>>().await);
 
 		Outcome::Success(CommonTemplateState {
 			logged_in: session_state.0.is_some(),
 			is_admin: false,
 			forgot_password_implemented: false,
+			public_url: config_state.public_url.clone(),
 		})
 	}
 }