How to Connect Your Domain to Your App (with Free HTTPS)

What you need

• An app that has deployed at least once. If you haven’t got that far, start with the guide for your framework: React, Next.js, Python or Node.js.
• A domain, and access to its DNS settings. That’s usually wherever you bought it, or a DNS service like Cloudflare if you moved it there. Need one? Search for a domain.
• A plan that includes custom domains. Each app can have one custom domain.

First, choose www or the root domain

Decide which name your app will answer on, because the DNS record differs:

• A subdomain, such as www.example.com or app.example.com, uses a CNAME record. It’s the simplest option and works with every DNS provider.
• The root domain, example.com, can’t use a CNAME, a rule of DNS itself. It needs an A record, or an ALIAS or ANAME record if your provider offers one. Cloudflare handles this for you if you add a CNAME at the root.

Since an app has one custom domain, most people connect www.example.com and have their DNS provider or registrar forward example.com to it. Many providers call this URL forwarding or a redirect rule.

Step 1: Add the domain

Open your project, go to the Domains tab, type your domain under Custom domain, for example www.example.com, and click Add domain. Enter just the name: no https:// and no path.

Step 2: Add two DNS records

The dashboard now shows two records, each with copy buttons. Add both where your domain’s DNS is managed. For www.example.com they look like this, with your own values in place of the placeholders:

For a root domain the second record is an A record instead, and the dashboard explains what to point it at. Always copy the values from your dashboard; they are specific to your domain.

Entering the name in your DNS provider

The dashboard shows each record’s full name. Some DNS providers want the full name; many want only the part before your domain, because they add the domain themselves:

Full name                             What to type in the "Name" or "Host" field
_chajio-challenge.www.example.com  →  _chajio-challenge.www
www.example.com                    →  www
example.com                        →  @

If you’re not sure, look at an existing record in the same account: if it shows www rather than www.example.com, type the short form.

Step 3: Verify

Back on the Domains tab, click Verify. The dashboard checks each record and ticks it off:

1. Ownership: the TXT record was found, so your domain is connected to your app.
2. Routing: your domain points at your app.
3. HTTPS: a certificate is issued, usually in under a minute.

When all three are done, your app is live at https://www.example.com. Visitors who type http:// are redirected to HTTPS, and the certificate renews itself well before it expires. Your free address keeps working alongside your domain.

New DNS records can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to be visible everywhere, depending on your provider. If Verify doesn’t find them yet, wait a little and try again; the dashboard also re-checks on its own.

Keep the TXT record

Leave the _chajio-challenge record in place after you’re connected. Chajio Cloud re-checks it from time to time to confirm the domain is still yours. A brief DNS hiccup is ignored, but if the record stays missing for about a week, the domain is disconnected from your app.

Using Cloudflare

Cloudflare’s proxy (the orange cloud) works. The dashboard recognises it and shows the routing record as proxied, so you can leave it on. One setting matters: under SSL/TLS, set the encryption mode to Full (strict). The Flexible mode makes Cloudflare contact your app over plain HTTP, which is redirected to HTTPS, which Cloudflare fetches over HTTP again: a redirect loop.

Checking your records yourself

Online DNS lookup tools will show what the world currently sees for your records. On a Mac or Linux computer you can also ask directly:

dig TXT _chajio-challenge.www.example.com +short
dig CNAME www.example.com +short

The first should print your token and the second the target from your dashboard.

Common problems

Changing or removing a domain

To switch domains, remove the current one on the Domains tab and add the new one. Your app stays reachable at its free address throughout, so nothing goes offline while you make the change.