Connect a custom domain

In this tutorial you connect a domain you already own, such as yourbusiness.com, or a subdomain of it, such as shop.yourbusiness.com, add a few records at the company that manages your domain's DNS, and make the domain your site's live address. Custom domains are included on every plan.

You need:

• A domain you've bought from a domain company (registrar), such as Namecheap, GoDaddy or Porkbun. Starjay doesn't sell domains.
• Access to that domain's DNS settings. Usually that's your registrar's dashboard; if you've moved DNS elsewhere (for example, to Cloudflare), use that.
• No open AI session. Domain controls are locked while the AI is working or a session is waiting for Save or Reject.

What you get depends on what you enter:

• A domain (yourbusiness.com): your site is served at www.yourbusiness.com, and visitors who type yourbusiness.com are sent there too. Follow steps 1 to 5 below.
• A subdomain (shop.yourbusiness.com): your site is served at exactly that address, with no www. Follow step 1, then Using a subdomain, then step 4 onwards.

Step 1: Connect the domain

Starjay looks up which company runs your DNS. If it recognizes it, the card is titled with its name, for example DNS configuration for Porkbun, and the records are written the way that company expects.

Step 2: Add the records

Sign in to your DNS host in another tab and open the DNS settings for your domain. Add each record from the card. Click any value in the card to copy it.

Record	Host / Name	Value	What it's for
CNAME	www	sites.starjay.app	Points www.yourbusiness.com at your Starjay site.
TXT	_starjay	starjay-verify=… (your own code)	Proves you own the domain. Starjay won't serve your site on the domain until it finds this record.
The bare domain	@	Depends on your DNS host (see step 3)	Makes yourbusiness.com (without www) work.

Copy the values from your card, not from this page. Your starjay-verify= code is unique to your domain.

Some DNS hosts want the host name in full (www.yourbusiness.com) instead of just www. If yours does, add your domain to the end.

Step 3: Set up the bare domain

The DNS standard doesn't allow a CNAME on a bare domain, so DNS hosts handle it differently. The card shows the right row for yours:

Your DNS host	The card shows	What to do
Cloudflare	CNAME @ → sites.starjay.app	Add it. Cloudflare makes it work at the root automatically.
Namecheap, Porkbun, DNSimple, Gandi	ALIAS @ → sites.starjay.app	Add an ALIAS record.
Name.com, DNS Made Easy	ANAME @ → sites.starjay.app	Add an ANAME record.
GoDaddy, Squarespace Domains, Hover, Network Solutions, IONOS, Wix, Hostinger, Bluehost, HostGator, DreamHost, SiteGround, OVH, Amazon Route 53, Azure DNS, DigitalOcean, Linode, and hosts Starjay doesn't recognize	FORWARD yourbusiness.com → https://www.yourbusiness.com	Use your provider's domain forwarding (sometimes called redirect) to send the bare domain to the www address. Choose a permanent (301) forward and keep the path if offered.

For forwarding, the card's note tells you where to find the setting when Starjay knows it, for example In GoDaddy, open the domain and use Forwarding. Amazon Route 53, Azure DNS, DigitalOcean and Linode have no forwarding feature: set the forward up at your domain registrar instead, or move your DNS to a host that supports ALIAS records.

If your DNS host is Cloudflare

• The card uses Cloudflare's labels: Name and Target / Content.
• For each CNAME record, set Proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud). Click the orange cloud until it turns grey. Starjay handles your hosting and HTTPS.
• Paste the TXT value into Cloudflare's Content field.

Using a subdomain

If you entered a subdomain, such as shop.yourbusiness.com, the card shows just two records. Starjay writes their names the way most DNS hosts want them: just the part before your domain.

Record	Host / Name	Value	What it's for
CNAME	shop	sites.starjay.app	Points shop.yourbusiness.com at your Starjay site.
TXT	_starjay.shop	starjay-verify=… (your own code)	Proves you own the subdomain. Starjay won't serve your site on it until it finds this record.

Add both records in your domain's DNS settings, the same place you'd manage yourbusiness.com. If your DNS host wants the full name, add your domain to the end: shop.yourbusiness.com and _starjay.shop.yourbusiness.com.

There's no www record and no bare-domain record for a subdomain, so skip step 3. Your main domain, yourbusiness.com, isn't changed.

If your DNS host is Cloudflare, set Proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud) for the CNAME.

Step 4: Check the records

When every record is verified, the DNS card disappears and the domain shows a selectable button instead of a yellow dot.

Step 5: Make the domain your live address

Under Connected Domains, your Starjay address and your domain each have a round button. Exactly one is selected: that's the address your site is served at.

• If your site isn't published yet: select your domain, then click Publish.
• If your site is already live: select your domain. Starjay asks you to confirm Republish to switch domains, because switching republishes your site. Any changes you've made since your last publish go live too. Click Republish.

When the publish finishes, your site is live at www.yourbusiness.com, or at your subdomain, such as shop.yourbusiness.com. Your Starjay address stops serving the site, so visitors there no longer reach it. See Choose which address serves your site.

You can ask the AI

You can also ask the AI in the editor to connect a domain, for example "Put my site on yourbusiness.com." It asks for your OK before connecting, then tells you the records to add.

Related

• Domain troubleshooting
• Disconnect a domain
• Put your site on your own domain