Custom Domain Setup Guide

This guide explains how to connect your own domain to a Lokuma site.

The setup takes about 5–10 minutes of active work; DNS propagation may take an additional 5–30 minutes depending on your provider.

Custom domains are available on Starter, Pro, and Enterprise plans. Free projects publish to a *.lokuma.app subdomain. See Pricing Plans for plan comparisons.

Part 1 — Before you start

What you're actually doing

Connecting a custom domain involves four moves:

1. Adding the domain in Lokuma's Dashboard.
2. Opening your domain's DNS management page (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.).
3. Adding the DNS records Lokuma displays (CNAME or A + TXT).
4. Waiting for DNS propagation, then verifying.

The process is the same across every domain provider — only the location of the DNS settings differs (see Part 3 for per-provider notes).

What you'll need

• A domain you own at a registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.).
• Access to your registrar's DNS management page.
• About 10 minutes (most of which is DNS propagation, not active work).

Part 2 — Step-by-step

Step 1 — Add the custom domain in Lokuma

1. Open your project in the Lokuma editor.
2. Click Dashboard in the top bar to switch to the Dashboard view.
3. Click the Domains sub-tab.
4. In the Custom domains section, click + Add custom domain.
5. Enter the domain you want to connect (e.g. example.com or www.example.com) and continue.

Lokuma will detect whether you're connecting an apex (root) domain or a subdomain and show the matching DNS records.

Step 2 — Configure DNS at your registrar

After adding the domain, Lokuma displays a Configure DNS modal with the exact records to add at your registrar:

Apex (root) domain — example.com

You'll usually be asked for:

Subdomain — www.example.com or app.example.com

⚠️ Always copy the exact values from the Configure DNS modal. The samples above are illustrative — your modal shows the real IP / hostname / verification string for your specific domain.

Quick setup tips (shown in-modal too)

• Set TTL to 600 seconds (10 minutes), or the shortest your provider allows. Long TTLs (1h+) make the setup look stuck during propagation.
• Remove conflicting records on the same host first — any existing A or CNAME at the host you're configuring will cause verification to fail. Delete them before adding the new ones.
• Cloudflare users: set the proxy status to DNS only (gray cloud) for these records. The orange-cloud proxy interferes with verification.
• Remove AAAA (IPv6) records on the same host — they can interfere with routing and bypass our edge.

Step 3 — Confirm DNS records added

Back in the Lokuma modal, click I've added the records. Lokuma checks for the records and updates the domain status:

• Pending — records visible, propagation still completing (allow 5–30 minutes).
• Active — propagation done, your site is reachable on the custom domain.

If not detected after 30+ minutes, double-check:

• Type (A vs CNAME) matches the modal exactly.
• Name / Host matches — @ for apex, exact subdomain name for subdomains.
• Value matches character-for-character (no trailing dots or spaces).
• You're editing DNS at the correct provider — domains can be registered at one provider and DNS-hosted at another.

Part 3 — Quick navigation by domain provider

The DNS records (Step 2) are identical at every provider — only the location of the DNS settings page differs.

After reaching the DNS settings page at your provider, return to Step 2 above and add the records shown in the Lokuma modal.

Part 4 — Multiple domains & primary domain

You can connect multiple custom domains to the same project (e.g. example.com + www.example.com + example.org). One of them is marked as Primary — it's the canonical URL used for SEO, social sharing, and the live-site link in the Dashboard.

• Make primary — click the star icon next to a connected domain to promote it to primary.
• Disable — temporarily stop routing traffic to a domain without deleting the connection.
• Delete — fully remove a domain from your project (you can re-add it later if needed).

Part 5 — Lokuma branding banner

Free plans show a small "Built with Lokuma" banner at the bottom of every published page. Starter and above can hide it from Dashboard → Domains → Lokuma branding section.

This setting is project-level — apply it once and every domain serving the project respects the choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my custom domain still showing the lokuma.app default after I added DNS records?

DNS propagation typically takes 5–30 minutes. If you set a long TTL (1h+) at your registrar, it can take longer because resolvers cache the old answer until TTL expires. Wait 30 minutes, then check status from the Domains tab. If it's still pending after an hour, verify your Name/Type/Value match the Lokuma modal exactly.

Can I connect both example.com and www.example.com?

Yes. Add each separately under Custom domains. Mark one as Primary — the other will redirect to it automatically.

What happens to existing search-engine rankings when I switch from default to custom domain?

Lokuma automatically issues 301 redirects from your default *.lokuma.app URL to your custom domain so search engines transfer rankings to the new canonical URL. Expect 2–6 weeks for full re-indexing.

My DNS provider doesn't let me edit TTL — is that a problem?

Not really. TTL only affects propagation speed, not whether the connection works. If you can't change TTL, the default (often 1h or 24h) is fine — just be patient during initial verification.

I'm using Cloudflare and verification keeps failing.

Cloudflare's orange-cloud proxy intercepts traffic before it reaches Lokuma's edge and breaks domain verification. Set the proxy status to DNS only (gray cloud) for the Lokuma records (and remove any conflicting AAAA / IPv6 records on the same host).

Can I remove the "Built with Lokuma" banner?

Yes, on Starter and above. From Dashboard → Domains → Lokuma branding, toggle Hide branding. The setting applies to every domain serving the project.

How do I cancel or remove a custom domain?

From the Domains tab, find the domain in Custom domains, click the trash icon, and confirm. Lokuma stops routing traffic to it; you can delete the DNS records at your registrar at your leisure (or keep them in case you want to re-add the domain later).

Next steps

• Dashboard Guide — full tour of the Domains tab and other Dashboard surfaces.
• Pricing Plans — Starter and above unlock custom domains; compare plan features.
• Key Features — explore generation, editing, and publishing capabilities.