--- title: "Setting Up a Custom Domain" description: "Every HelpDocs customer gets a custom subdomain that looks a little like this: .helpdocs.io. But if you want to take the customer experience from good to great, you'll want to set up a custom domain." url: "https://support.helpdocs.io/article/ABfqGbX2fi-setting-up-a-custom-domain" category: "Getting Started" updated_at: "2026-08-01T13:33:59Z" --- # Setting Up a Custom Domain Every HelpDocs customer gets a subdomain that looks like this: `.helpdocs.io`. Subdomains work great for most customers. But if you want to take your customer experience from *good* to *amazing*, you'll want to set up a custom domain. Something like `support.yourapp.com`. Setting up a custom domain is super simple. But if DNS and CNAMEs aren't your thing, [forward this article to your developers](mailto:your-dev@domain.com?Subject=Can%20you%20help%20me%20with%3F&Body=I%20want%20to%20set%20up%20a%20custom%20domain%20for%20my%20HelpDocs.%20Could%20you%20help%20me%20out%3F%20Here%27s%20an%20article%20with%20the%20instructions%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.helpdocs.io%2Farticle%2FABfqGbX2fi-setting-up-a-custom-domain). ### Setting up your custom domain 1 Set up a CNAME record Log into your DNS provider. This could be Route 53, GoDaddy, or whoever manages your domain. Create a new CNAME record for your chosen subdomain. Point it to `domains.helpdocs.io`. Set the TTL as low as possible. If you're using Cloudflare for DNS, your record should be **grey-clouded** with the proxy turned off. Orange clouding can cause issues. Your CNAME should point to `domains.helpdocs.io`**exactly** as written. Don't substitute your HelpDocs subdomain. 2 ![](https://files.helpdocs.io/Ytt2uahFxY/articles/ABfqGbX2fi/1785590872489/screenshot-2026-08-01-at-14-27-38.png) Tell us what your domain is Now you need to tell HelpDocs about your custom domain. 1. Head to **Settings** > **General** in your account 2. Type your custom domain into the field 3. Hit **Save Changes** 3 Wait for DNS to propagate DNS providers aren't always as fast as we'd like 🙁 You might need to wait up to 48 hours for changes to take effect. Don't worry though. You can still access your Knowledge Base at your original subdomain during this time. Once propagation completes, visiting your custom domain should display your Knowledge Base. ### Add SSL to your custom domain 🔒 All HelpDocs plans come with free SSL certificates. There's nothing extra to pay and it only takes one click. Here's how to add SSL to your custom domain: 1. Make sure your custom domain works without SSL first 2. Head to **Settings** > **General** 3. Next to **Custom Domain**, click **Request SSL** 4. Your certificate should be ready in a few seconds If your certificate doesn't appear after several minutes, contact support and we'll help you debug 🐛 5. Once SSL is working, the **Request SSL** button will disappear. You'll see `https://` in the domain field prefix Got CAA records? You'll need to add `letsencrypt.org` to your [CAA record](http://letsencrypt.org/docs/caa/). ### Troubleshooting common issues Running into problems? Here are the most common issues and how to fix them: | Issue | What's happening | How to fix it | |-------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Incorrect CNAME target | Your CNAME is pointing to the wrong domain (like your HelpDocs subdomain instead of `domains.helpdocs.io`) | Update your CNAME record to point to `domains.helpdocs.io` exactly as written. This is the most common mistake | | SSL rate limits | You've requested too many SSL certificates in a short period | Wait 24 hours before requesting another certificate. There's a daily limit on certificate requests | | Internal error | Something went wrong on our end | Contact support and we'll investigate what's causing the issue | | Error validating domain | DNS servers are down or not responding | Wait a bit and try again. If the problem persists, check with your DNS provider to make sure their servers are operational | ### Moving a domain to HelpDocs with zero downtime You can move your existing docs to HelpDocs without any downtime. Here's how: 1. Enter your custom domain in HelpDocs **Settings** > **General** and hit **Save** 2. Update your domain's CNAME to point to `domains.helpdocs.io` 3. Wait for your custom domain to show HelpDocs content 4. Optional: Generate an SSL certificate in **Settings** > **General** by clicking **Request SSL** Want to keep existing links working? You'll need to [set up redirects](/article/QEx7nXwz5j-adding-url-redirects). If you used [one of our migrators](/article/9WWNm9f5h6-import-data-from-another-service), we'll handle this for you. ### Custom domain via CloudFront Using Amazon CloudFront with your custom domain? By default, CloudFront doesn't forward your visitors' User-Agent to HelpDocs. It replaces it with "Amazon CloudFront" instead. This may break some [analytics functionality](/article/z4ohbaf62f-understanding-key-health-metrics) like: - Pageview analytics - Browser and device data - Language detection - AI crawler identification - Bot filtering ##### Fix: forward viewer headers with an Origin Request Policy 1. Head to your CloudFront distribution in AWS Console 2. Head to **Behaviors** and edit the behavior pointing to HelpDocs 1. Set **Origin request policy** to: **Managed-AllViewer** (recommended): forwards everything and restores full functionality **Managed-AllViewerAndCloudFrontHeaders-2022-06**: same as above plus CloudFront's geo/device headers Using a custom policy? Make sure it forwards: `User-Agent`, `Referer`, `Accept-Language`, `Cookie`, and `Host`. You can also add `All Sec-*`headers. They're optional but highly recommended. 3. Save the changes. CloudFront will update in 1-5 minutes