Using your own domain with an app

Every app has an address on our domain from the moment it deploys. You can use your own instead.

There are three steps, and the third one is the one people miss.

1. Add the domain in the panel

On the app's Domain tab, enter the hostname you want to use — for example blog.example.com — and save. The panel confirms it and reminds you that DNS still has to point here.

2. Point DNS at the app

At your DNS provider, create a CNAME record for that hostname, pointing at your app's existing address (shown on the Domain tab).

Two things to get right:

• Enter the target exactly. Some DNS interfaces treat the target as relative to your zone and quietly append your domain to it, producing something like app.h1.example.com.example.com, which resolves to nothing. If your provider does this, add a trailing dot to the target.
• Set the record to DNS only, not proxied. If your provider offers a proxy or CDN toggle (Cloudflare calls it the orange cloud), turn it off. A proxy intercepts the certificate challenge and the certificate never issues.

Use Check DNS on the Domain tab to confirm. It reports what your domain actually resolves to, so a wrong target shows up immediately rather than as a mystery.

3. Apply the domain to the app

Once the DNS check passes, an Apply domain to app button appears. Use it.

This step exists because most applications store their own address in their configuration. Until you apply it, the app still believes it lives at the old hostname: the site loads on your domain, but logins, redirects and links point at the old one. Some applications refuse to work at all — Ghost rejects its admin area from any address other than the one it was configured with.

Applying the domain restarts the app, so it is briefly unavailable. The panel asks you to confirm first.

HTTPS

You do not need to do anything. The certificate is issued automatically the first time your domain resolves to the app, usually within a minute, and renewed from then on.

Removing a custom domain

Clear the field on the Domain tab and save. The app remains reachable at its original address.