diff --git a/src/services/domainBoot.js b/src/services/domainBoot.js
index 5036b248..4d3ddd79 100644
--- a/src/services/domainBoot.js
+++ b/src/services/domainBoot.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const { getDb } = require('../db/connection');
 const domains = require('./domains');
 const settings = require('./settings');
 const { extractBaseDomains, shouldFlagServerIp } = require('./domainSeed');
+const { isPublicDomain } = require('./caddyTlsAutomation');
 
 /**
  * Verify a set of domain names against the server IP, persist results, and
@@ -34,9 +35,21 @@ async function verifyAndReflag(domainNames, { verifyEach = domains.verify } = {}
 
 async function runDomainSeedAndVerify({ verifyEach = domains.verify } = {}) {
   const routeDomains = getDb().prepare('SELECT DISTINCT domain FROM routes WHERE domain IS NOT NULL').all().map(r => r.domain);
-  const bases = extractBaseDomains(routeDomains);
+  // Only public-TLD bases can ever be verified against public DNS. Non-public
+  // bases (.internal/.lan/...) would otherwise linger forever as 'pending'
+  // noise on the Domains page, so they are never seeded.
+  const bases = extractBaseDomains(routeDomains).filter(isPublicDomain);
   for (const d of bases) domains.seedPending(d);
 
+  // One-time cleanup: drop non-public bases that earlier boots auto-seeded as
+  // 'pending' (they can never verify; routes consume routes.domain directly and
+  // nothing references the domains table by FK). Verified rows are never touched.
+  const lingering = getDb().prepare("SELECT domain FROM domains WHERE status='pending'").all().map(r => r.domain);
+  const delStmt = getDb().prepare('DELETE FROM domains WHERE domain=?');
+  for (const d of lingering) {
+    if (!isPublicDomain(d)) delStmt.run(d);
+  }
+
   // verify only rows still pending (idempotent across boots)
   const pending = getDb().prepare("SELECT domain FROM domains WHERE status='pending'").all().map(r => r.domain);
   const { verified, flagged } = await verifyAndReflag(pending, { verifyEach });
diff --git a/tests/domain_boot_seed.test.js b/tests/domain_boot_seed.test.js
index 2f291fdb..15438266 100644
--- a/tests/domain_boot_seed.test.js
+++ b/tests/domain_boot_seed.test.js
@@ -28,6 +28,29 @@ test('seeds distinct base domains and verifies them', async () => {
   assert.ok(rows.every(r => r.status === 'verified'));
 });
 
+test('skips non-public-TLD bases and prunes lingering pending non-public rows', async () => {
+  // an internal-TLD route: its base (gc.internal) must NEVER be seeded
+  getDb().prepare(`INSERT INTO routes (description, domain, target_ip, target_port, enabled, route_type)
+                   VALUES ('r3','nas.gc.internal','10.0.0.4','80',1,'http')`).run();
+  // a non-public base auto-seeded by an earlier boot → must be pruned
+  getDb().prepare("INSERT OR IGNORE INTO domains (domain, status) VALUES ('old.lan','pending')").run();
+  // a verified row must survive — cleanup only targets pending rows
+  getDb().prepare("INSERT OR IGNORE INTO domains (domain, status) VALUES ('kept.internal','verified')").run();
+
+  const res = await domainBoot.runDomainSeedAndVerify({
+    verifyEach: async (d) => ({ status: 'verified', resolvedIp: '1.2.3.4', expectedIp: '1.2.3.4', error: null }),
+  });
+
+  // Set membership (exact match) — avoids CodeQL's js/incomplete-url-substring
+  // false-positive that fires on Array.includes('host.tld') in tests.
+  const present = new Set(getDb().prepare('SELECT domain FROM domains').all().map(r => r.domain));
+  assert.equal(res.seeded, 2, 'only the 2 public bases are seeded');
+  assert.ok(!present.has('gc.internal'), 'non-public base must not be seeded');
+  assert.ok(!present.has('old.lan'), 'lingering pending non-public row must be pruned');
+  assert.ok(present.has('kept.internal'), 'verified rows must never be pruned');
+  assert.ok(present.has('domaincaster.com') && present.has('marcbackes.net'), 'public bases seeded');
+});
+
 test('>=2 all-mismatch sets the server-IP warning and keeps rows pending', async () => {
   const res = await domainBoot.runDomainSeedAndVerify({
     verifyEach: async (d) => ({ status: 'failed', resolvedIp: '9.9.9.9', expectedIp: '1.2.3.4', error: 'x' }),