Using your own domain

Every app gets an address like grocery.homespunapps.com the moment it is deployed. If you own a domain, you can put the app on that instead: shop.yourname.com, or yourname.com itself.

The app keeps its homespunapps.com address as well. Both work, and nothing about the app changes.

What you need

A domain you already own, and the ability to add DNS records for it, wherever it is registered. GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, anywhere. You do not need to move the domain, change registrar, or create an account anywhere new.

Setting it up

Ask your agent, in whatever words you would normally use:

Put this app on shop.example.com

Or do it yourself in the console: open the app, find the Domain panel, and add the domain there. From the command line it is:

homespun apps domain add <app> shop.example.com

All three do the same thing, and all three hand you back a short list of DNS records.

The part only you can do

Publish those DNS records at your domain provider. This is the step nothing can do for you: it is how you prove the domain is yours. There will be one or two records:

Record	Why
CNAME pointing at cname.homespunapps.com	routes the traffic
sometimes a TXT record	proves you control the domain

Add exactly what you were given. If your domain is itself on Cloudflare, set the CNAME to DNS only (the grey cloud) rather than proxied, or the request never reaches Homespun.

Then wait. A certificate is issued for your domain automatically, usually within a minute or two. You can watch it with:

homespun apps domain show <app>

or by pressing Refresh in the console, or by asking your agent whether the domain is active yet. The status goes from pending to active, and the app is live on your address.

If you see “custom hostname does not CNAME to this zone” before then, it simply means the DNS records have not propagated yet. It clears itself. No action needed.

Bare domains: the one wrinkle

shop.example.com works anywhere. example.com on its own is harder, and the reason is DNS itself rather than Homespun: the standard does not allow a plain CNAME at the root of a domain.

Providers work around this with a record type usually called ALIAS or ANAME. Cloudflare, Namecheap, Route 53 and DNSimple have one. GoDaddy’s basic DNS does not.

So if you want the bare domain and your provider has no ALIAS record, you have two options:

• Use www instead, and point the bare domain at it with your provider’s forwarding.
• Move DNS hosting (not the registration) to a provider that supports ALIAS records.

Both example.com and www.example.com

Add them both. The first domain you add serves the app; every one after it redirects there, keeping the path and query intact. So visitors reach the same place whichever they type, and search engines see one address rather than two competing copies of the same page.

Each domain counts against your account’s domain allowance, including the redirecting ones.

Removing a domain

Remove it in the console, with homespun apps domain remove <app> <domain>, or by asking your agent. It stops serving within seconds.

Two things worth knowing:

• Removing the serving domain also removes the ones that redirect to it, since a redirect pointing at a domain the app no longer holds would send visitors nowhere. The console warns you when this is about to happen.
• Delete the DNS record at your provider too. Until you do, your domain still points at Homespun and visitors get an error page rather than your own.

One limitation, stated plainly

If the app is private, signing in from your custom domain finishes on the app’s homespunapps.com address rather than yours. The app is still gated correctly, and members still get in; the sign-in step just briefly shows the other address. Public and link apps are unaffected.