diff --git a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/Conductor.java b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/Conductor.java
index 32bb6af4..a379bea1 100644
--- a/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/Conductor.java
+++ b/transact/src/main/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/Conductor.java
@@ -155,21 +155,31 @@ private Conductor(Builder builder) {
     String appName = dbosExecutor.appName();
     Objects.requireNonNull(appName, "App Name must not be null to use Conductor");
 
-    String domain = builder.domain;
-    if (domain == null) {
+    var hostname = builder.domain;
+    if (hostname == null) {
       String dbosDomain = System.getenv("DBOS_DOMAIN");
       if (dbosDomain == null || dbosDomain.trim().isEmpty()) {
-        domain = "wss://cloud.dbos.dev";
+        hostname = "cloud.dbos.dev";
       } else {
-        domain = "wss://" + dbosDomain.trim();
+        hostname = dbosDomain.trim();
       }
-      domain += "/conductor/v1alpha1";
     } else {
       // ensure there is no trailing slash
-      domain = domain.replaceAll("/$", "");
+      hostname = hostname.replaceAll("/$", "");
     }
 
-    this.url = domain + "/websocket/" + appName + "/" + builder.conductorKey;
+    // Determine protocol based on hostname (use ws for localhost, wss for others)
+    boolean isLocalHost =
+        "localhost".equals(hostname)
+            || hostname.startsWith("localhost:")
+            || "127.0.0.1".equals(hostname)
+            || hostname.startsWith("127.0.0.1:");
+    var protocol = isLocalHost ? "ws" : "wss";
+
+    this.url =
+        String.format(
+            "%s://%s/conductor/v1alpha1/websocket/%s/%s",
+            protocol, hostname, appName, builder.conductorKey);
 
     this.pingPeriodMs = builder.pingPeriodMs;
     this.pingTimeoutMs = builder.pingTimeoutMs;
diff --git a/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/ConductorTest.java b/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/ConductorTest.java
index c3273d51..ba374eef 100644
--- a/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/ConductorTest.java
+++ b/transact/src/test/java/dev/dbos/transact/conductor/ConductorTest.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ void beforeEach() throws Exception {
 
     int port = testServer.getPort();
     assertTrue(port != 0, "Invalid Web Socket Server port");
-    String domain = String.format("ws://localhost:%d", port);
+    String domain = String.format("localhost:%d", port);
 
     mockDB = mock(SystemDatabase.class);
     mockExec = mock(DBOSExecutor.class);
@@ -126,7 +126,8 @@ public void onOpen(WebSocket conn, ClientHandshake handshake) {
     try (Conductor conductor = builder.build()) {
       conductor.start();
       assertTrue(listener.latch.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS), "latch timed out");
-      assertEquals("/websocket/test-app-name/conductor-key", listener.resourceDescriptor);
+      assertEquals(
+          "/conductor/v1alpha1/websocket/test-app-name/conductor-key", listener.resourceDescriptor);
     }
   }