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A custom domain lets you serve short links from a hostname you own, like links.acme.com, instead of the default shortener host. You add the domain, point its DNS at the shortener, and run a verification check. Once the domain is verified it goes active, HTTPS is issued automatically, and your short links start resolving on it.
Only account owners and admins can add, verify, or remove a domain. Every member of the account can view domains and their check history.

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Add a domain and point DNS

1

Add the hostname

Go to your account’s Domains settings and add a new domain. Enter the hostname you want to use, such as links.acme.com. The value is cleaned up for you: it is lowercased, any https:// prefix is removed, and any trailing path is dropped, so https://Links.Acme.com/go becomes links.acme.com.The domain starts as Pending verification until its DNS is wired up and a check passes.
2

Point your DNS at the shortener

The domain’s page shows the exact records to create, with the target values filled in for you. Use the record type that matches your hostname:
  • Subdomain (recommended), for example links.acme.com: add a CNAME record pointing the subdomain at the shortener target shown on the page.
  • Apex or root domain, for example acme.com: an apex cannot use a plain CNAME. Use your DNS provider’s ANAME or ALIAS record pointing at the same target, or add A records pointing at the IP addresses shown on the page.
The target values are specific to your environment, so always copy them from the domain’s page rather than guessing.
There is no TXT record in this flow. Ownership is proven over HTTP when you run the check, not through a DNS TXT record.
3

Run the verification check

After your DNS change has propagated, open the domain and click Check now. The shortener makes a request to your hostname to confirm it is wired to your account. When the check passes, the domain flips to Verified and goes active.The check is safe to run as often as you like. If it does not pass yet, the page shows the result and reason so you can fix the DNS and try again. A failed check does not change a domain that is already verified.

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Automatic HTTPS

You never upload or renew a certificate. Once a domain is verified, an HTTPS certificate is issued for it automatically and renewed for you in the background. There is nothing to configure and no expiry to track.

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Verified and active states

A domain shows one of two states:
  • Pending verification: added but not yet confirmed. Its short links are not live yet, and the page shows the DNS records to create and the Check now button.
  • Verified: a check has passed. The domain is active, HTTPS is in place, and short links resolve on it. Verification is sticky: once a domain is verified it stays verified, even if a later health check fails.

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Health checks and alerts

After a domain is verified, the shortener keeps re-checking it on a schedule so you find out if it stops resolving.
  • Email alerts. If a verified domain starts failing its checks, an alert email goes out once, to the account’s owner and admins. When it recovers, a single recovery email follows. To avoid noise from a brief blip, a domain is reported as down only after several checks in a row fail, and it is reported as recovered on the first check that passes again.
  • Check history. Each domain’s page shows a Check history timeline: a row of segments, green for a passed check and red for a failed one. Hover a segment to see when it ran and, for a failure, the reason. History is kept for the last 30 days.

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Plan limit

The number of custom domains you can add depends on your plan. On the free plan there is a hard cap of one custom domain, so adding a second is blocked until you upgrade. Paid plans allow more.

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Remove a domain

Owners and admins can remove a domain from its page. Removing it is immediate and cannot be undone: short links on that domain stop resolving right away, so only remove a domain once nothing depends on it.

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Gotchas

  • No TXT record. Verification is HTTP based. Do not add a DNS TXT record expecting it to verify the domain. The only records you need are the CNAME (subdomain) or ANAME/ALIAS/A (apex) records shown on the domain’s page.
  • Copy the DNS target from the page, not from docs. The shortener target and IP addresses are environment specific, so read them from the domain’s own page every time rather than reusing a value from elsewhere.
  • A failed check returns a result, not an error. Clicking Check now always runs the check and reports the outcome on the page. A check that does not pass is a normal result with a reason, not a broken action.
  • A failed health check never un-verifies a domain. Health-check failures flip the domain’s health and send an alert, but the domain stays verified and its short links keep being served the moment it resolves again.
  • A hostname can only be live on one account. If another account is already serving the same hostname, you cannot add it. An abandoned, never-verified registration on another account is released after about a week so the hostname becomes available again.
  • Apex domains under multi-part endings. For a domain like acme.co.uk the page may label it as a subdomain. It is still an apex, so use the ANAME, ALIAS, or A record option, not the CNAME.

Short URL field

How short links are generated and resolved, including on a custom domain.

Account overview

Account-level settings, plans, and where to manage your domains.