Configuring a custom domain for your app

This guide will help you through the process of configuring a custom domain for your app in Databutton. Additionally we’ve included common issues users experience while setting up this and how they can be resolved.

The overall process looks like this and takes about one day, but often shorter.

1. Request a custom domain in Databutton.

2. Add provided DNS records at your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap or similar)

3. Wait while changes propagate and we validate the setup.

4. Once we notify you that the domain is activated, deploy your app one time to move it to the domain.

1. Requesting a custom domain

1. Open your Databutton app and find the custom domain form.

2. Enter your domain and send the request.

   1. If you want to use the root domain (i.e. example.com rather than app.example.com) and your domain registrar doesn’t support ALIAS / ANAME record, check out our guide for overcoming this.

2. Updating DNS records at your registrar

1. Head to your domain registrar and open your domain.

2. Navigate to the DNS configuration page. Usually called DNS or DNS records.

3. Open your app in Databutton and go to the “Production” section under config to see your DNS records.

   1. The one ending with “custom.databutton.com” is where you will point your domain to.

   2. The one ending with “acm-validation.aws” is to prove ownership of the domain and support HTTPS.

4. Add your DNS records to your domain registrar (there is usually a few there already).

   1. Some registrars want you to add the full “Host/Name” value, while others only want the part before your domain.

5. For some registrars you must click “Refresh DNS” or similar to activate your changes.

3. Wait for changes to propagate

1. Now you'll have to wait for the records to propagate. This can take from a few minutes to a day. If it takes more than 6 hours it is usually something wrong with the values. Double check the values and use a tool like https://dnschecker.org/ to check if they have propagated.

2. You can also follow status on the Production section of your Databutton app. The status updates every 15 minutes.

4. Activate your domain

1. When your DNS records have been validated successfully, we will finalize your setup. You can simply sit back and relax and we will notify you as soon as it is ready.

2. When we have notified you that your domain is ready, the final step is to deploy your app one more time. This will move the app from your "databutton.app" domain to your new custom domain.

Troubleshooting & Common issues

Problem: Can not find “ALIAS” type record when adding records to your domain registrar.

Solution: First check if they have a record type “ANAME” which is the same. If so, use that instead, if not, see if they support CNAME flattening. If they do simply set type to CNAME instead of ALIAS. If neither of these work, read the section on redirecting root domain for registrars that do not support ALIAS records.

Problem: The domain is not validated even though ~24 hours have passed since you requested it.

Solution: There is most likely something wrong in the values you added to your registrar. Double check the values. Some want you to add only the prefix of the domain as they automatically add the rest.

Problem: Unable to save record with “_” in it.

Solution: This is most likely that your domain registrar is not supporting this, even though it should be a valid standard. Reach out to us and we will try our best to find a solution.

Problem: I can't log in after moving my app to a custom domain.

Solution: This is often because the domain is not in your list of authorized domains. If you use Firebase for login for example, you need to add your custom domain to the list of authorized domains.

Redirecting root domain with DNS registrars without ALIAS record

If your registrar does not support ALIAS records, use this workaround. See list below for domain registrars we know this works with.

1. Request your domain with “www” in front (e.g. www.example.com)

2. Update DNS records at domain registrar with new values from Databutton. This time it will be to rows of CNAME records.

3. Set up a redirect in your registrar from non-www to www (example.com → www.example.com)

4. 1. This feature is usually called “Redirect”, “Web Redirect” or “Web Forward”. For some it is listed as a record type next to CNAME and ALIAS, but called something like “WEBFORWARD”

Domain registrars compatible with this approach:

• GoDaddy

• Tuscows