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Using your own domain name

Custom domains are available on the Hobby Plan and above

To use a custom domain, you will need to configure your DNS records and your Anvil app. Anvil will take care of the SSL certificate, so you do not need to purchase your own SSL or TLS certificate.

Configuring your Anvil app

First, switch an environment to a custom domain:

Click the 'Switch to Custom Domain' button
Enter your domain into the dialog

Configuring the DNS records

Next, create a DNS A record pointing your domain to 52.56.203.177. If you wish to use a subdomain of the domain you purchased (such as app.mydomain.com), you can simply configure an A record pointing that subdomain to the IP address above. To configure a subdomain, just enter the subdomain in place of the @ symbol when configuring the A record.

If you want to use www.mydomain.com as well as mydomain.com, you can configure a second A record for www. In this case, configuring your app to use mydomain.com will cause both www.mydomain.com and mydomain.com to work for your app.

Make sure there are no AAAA records for your domain, as these will prevent us from issuing a certificate for your domain.
DNS changes take a while to propagate around the internet, so you may need to wait up to 48 hours before your changes fully take effect.

Help and tips

Here are some tips on using a custom domain for some common domain registrars:

Squarespace Domains

In your domains dashboard, go to ‘DNS’, then ‘DNS settings’ and delete the default records. Click ‘Add’ next to ‘Custom Records’ and find A in the Type dropdown.

Advanced note: If you’re using a domain forwarding as a redirect, you need to ensure that “SSL On” is selected. This because Anvil uses HSTS to enforce SSL as part of its security model (so non-SSL connections will not work by design).

GoDaddy

In the GoDaddy DNS Management page for your domain, you can create an A record in the ‘Records’ card:

Cloudflare

In Cloudflare’s DNS settings tab, add an A record in the ‘add record’ tool.

Cloudflare and SSL

The cloud icon next to the ‘add’ button toggles Cloudflare’s CDN and other features on or off. Anvil apps will work with either setting. If you’re using Cloudflare’s SSL support, you need change the SSL Support setting from ‘Flexible’ to ‘Full Strict’. See this article from Cloudflare for more info. It will take a few minutes to take effect.

TLS/SSL Certificates

SSL certificates for hosted apps are managed by Anvil. There will be a delay between setting up your custom domain and the certificates being registered.

You do not need to purchase your own SSL or TLS certificate.

Do you still have questions?

Our Community Forum is full of helpful information and Anvil experts.

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