Custom domains

A custom domain lets people reach your published app at an address you own, such as www.example.com, instead of its Exepad link. Custom domains are part of the Pro plan.

An app has one custom domain. Connecting a different one replaces it.

How it works

When you connect example.com (or www.example.com), both addresses become one site:

• www.example.com is the main address. It serves your app.
• example.com, the root, redirects every visit to the same page on www.example.com.

Both answer over HTTPS only, and a visit over plain HTTP is sent to HTTPS. Exepad issues and renews the certificates once the records below are in place.

A subdomain such as shop.example.com is a site of its own: it serves your app at that address, and nothing redirects to it.

The three records

Open the app’s domain settings in Studio, enter the domain and connect it. Studio then shows the exact records for your app, each with a copy button. Add them where your domain’s DNS is managed: usually the company you bought the domain from, unless you moved its nameservers somewhere else.

Type	Host	Value	What it does
TXT	_exepad	exepad-verify=…, from Studio	Proves you control the domain. Nothing else is set up until this record is found.
CNAME	www	connect.exepad.app	Points the main address, www, at your app.
A	@	Exepad’s address, shown in Studio	Points the root at Exepad, which redirects it to www.

@ means the root of the domain itself. Most providers want the host relative to your domain, as above; if yours asks for the full name, enter _exepad.example.com and www.example.com instead.

A subdomain needs two records: a TXT at _exepad.shop and a CNAME at shop pointing to connect.exepad.app (for shop.example.com). A TXT at _exepad on the root domain proves a subdomain too.

If Studio shows no A record, root addresses are not switched on yet. Your site goes live on www, and Studio says the root address will redirect to www once root domains are switched on. Leave the root’s existing records alone until Studio shows the A record.

Use the exact values shown for your app. Do not reuse another app’s values or ones copied from an old tutorial: every connection gets its own ownership value.

Records to keep, and records to remove

Keep your email records (MX, and TXT records such as SPF) and other services’ verification records; the new records do not touch them. Remove what conflicts with the new records:

• any other A record on @, and any AAAA record on @: the root must answer with Exepad’s address only;
• any other record on www, because a CNAME must be the only record at its name;
• domain forwarding or a redirect your provider set up for the domain, which takes the root over.

If your domain has CAA records, which limit who may issue certificates for it, Studio’s check reports one that blocks your certificate.

Ownership and expiry

Exepad looks for the TXT record by itself, and you can press Check now in Studio after adding it. A new record can take from a few minutes to a few hours to be seen everywhere; while answers still differ, Studio says the record may still be updating.

If the TXT record never appears, the claim expires 7 days after you connected the domain and Studio removes it. Connect the domain again to start over: you get a new value to add.

A claim that has not been proven never blocks the real owner: whoever adds the TXT record first gets the domain, and other unproven claims on it are dropped. Once you have proven ownership, no other account can connect the domain. Leave the TXT record in place after the site is live.

Once ownership is proven, Studio shows each address and its stage: waiting for the DNS records, issuing the certificate (usually minutes), live, or needs a fix with the reason.

Steps for common DNS providers

Menu names change from time to time; the records themselves do not.

GoDaddy

1. In your domain portfolio, open the domain, then its DNS settings.
2. Turn off forwarding first: delete any domain forwarding. Forwarding locks the root’s A record, so you cannot change it while forwarding is on.
3. Add the TXT record with the name _exepad.
4. Edit the CNAME named www (GoDaddy usually points it to @) and set its value to connect.exepad.app.
5. Edit the A record named @. A new GoDaddy domain points it at a parking page, sometimes shown as Parked: replace that value with the address from Studio, and delete any second A record on @.

Namecheap

These steps apply when the domain uses Namecheap’s own DNS, which is the default.

1. In Domain List, choose Manage next to the domain, then Advanced DNS.
2. Remove the default URL Redirect Record on @, and the CNAME Record on www that points to parkingpage.namecheap.com.
3. Add a TXT Record with the host _exepad, a CNAME Record with the host www and the value connect.exepad.app, and an A Record with the host @ and the address from Studio.

Cloudflare DNS

1. Open the domain in your Cloudflare dashboard, then DNS > Records.
2. Add the TXT record with the name _exepad.
3. Add the CNAME for www and the A record for @, and set Proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud) on both. Delete or edit any existing record on www or @ first.

Proxied records (orange cloud) put a second layer in front of your app: its certificate may not be issued, and live features such as chat may not connect.

Squarespace

1. In the Domains panel, open the domain, then its DNS settings.
2. If the Squarespace Defaults records are there, delete them: they point the domain at a Squarespace site. Turn off any domain forwarding as well.
3. Under Custom records, add the TXT record (host _exepad), the CNAME (host www, data connect.exepad.app) and the A record (host @, the address from Studio).

IONOS

1. Under Domains & SSL, open the domain’s DNS settings.
2. Edit the A record on @ (IONOS points a new domain at a default page) to the address from Studio, and delete any AAAA record on @.
3. Delete any existing records on www, then add the CNAME (host name www, pointing to connect.exepad.app) and the TXT record (host name _exepad).

Wix

1. In your Wix account, go to Domains, open the domain’s menu and choose Manage DNS Records.
2. Add the TXT record with the host name _exepad.
3. Set the CNAME for www to connect.exepad.app, and the A record for the root to the address from Studio. If the domain is connected to a Wix site, these replace Wix’s own values.

Wix’s DNS has no AAAA or CAA records, so there is nothing else to remove there.

Check the result

Open the main address over HTTPS, and the root to see it redirect. Try sign-in, direct page links, files and the main action on the new address. If a stage stays pending, compare the records at your provider with the ones in Studio before changing them again.

To stop using the domain, disconnect it in the app’s domain settings, then remove the records at your provider. The domain stays registered with your provider either way.

Plans · Publishing · Troubleshooting