By default your storefront is reachable at {your-slug}.dzbuild.app (or {your-slug}.minacef.app for Minacef-tenant stores). When you're ready to go pro, point your own domain — myshop.com, mybrand.dz, anything you own — at DZBuild and we'll serve the storefront from there with automatic HTTPS.
There is only one DNS target you need to remember:
link.dzbuild.app
That's the canonical CNAME target for every custom domain on DZBuild. If you ever read instructions pointing somewhere else, they're out of date.
What you need
A domain you already own (any registrar — OVH, Namecheap, GoDaddy, Hostinger, GoDaddy.dz, …).
A paid plan (Pro, Unlimited or Enterprise). Linking a custom domain is not available on Free — the Domains page shows an upgrade prompt instead of the connect form. Buying a domain through DZBuild is not plan-gated; only linking one is. The 3-day Pro trial counts as a paid plan, but see the warning below about what happens when a plan expires.
5 minutes of attention. Propagation itself is usually under 30 minutes.
You do not need: - An IP address. We don't publish one — you only point a CNAME and we take care of the routing. - A separate SSL certificate. We provision and renew it for you, automatically.
Two paths to a custom domain
You'll see one of these two flows in Dashboard → Domains, depending on what your registrar supports:
Path | When to use | What happens |
Standard CNAME (recommended) | Your registrar lets you set a | You add one CNAME record at your current registrar (apex |
Cloudflare nameservers (full takeover) | Your registrar doesn't allow apex CNAME (Hostinger, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com). | DZBuild creates a Cloudflare zone for you. You point your domain's nameservers at Cloudflare. We manage DNS from then on. |
The dashboard auto-detects your registrar when you submit the domain. Only four providers are recognised as CNAME-flatteners automatically — Hostinger, Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com — and for those the Cloudflare nameservers wizard is surfaced up front.
On any other registrar (including .dz registrars, and GoDaddy, which the dashboard's own help text names as a problem case but the detector does not flag), you may have to choose the workaround yourself: either point www at link.dzbuild.app, or open the "Can't add a record on the root domain (@)?" help card on the Domains page. That card suggests the www CNAME first, and its link reveals the Cloudflare-nameservers wizard manually.
Path A — Standard CNAME (most providers)
1. Add the domain in DZBuild
Go to Dashboard → Domains (/dashboard/domains), open the Connect domain tab. The card is headed Verify and link the domain; type your domain into the input and click Verify & link. The input accepts either myshop.com or www.myshop.com — DZBuild strips the www. and stores the apex form.
2. Add the record at your registrar
Sign in to your domain registrar, open the DNS settings (often called DNS Records, Zone Editor, or Manage DNS) and add:
Type | Host / Name | Value / Target |
|
|
|
That's it — no A record, no IP address, no port.
If your registrar refuses a CNAME on the root, add the same CNAME on the www host instead. Verification checks www in addition to the apex, and the storefront is served on both. Having both @ and www is fine too — it is not a conflict.
If your registrar uses different terminology: - Host / Name = the subdomain side. @ means "the domain itself" (the apex). Some panels want the bare domain there instead. - Value / Target / Points to = always link.dzbuild.app. - Leave TTL at the default (300–3600s). Lower is fine; very high TTLs slow down propagation if you ever need to change something.
3. Click Verify & link
Back in Dashboard → Domains, click Verify & link. DZBuild checks the records. When they resolve, the tab shows a Connected badge and your storefront responds at myshop.com.
4. SSL — nothing to do
DZBuild issues an SSL certificate for your domain automatically and renews it. Customers see the green padlock. No CSR, no upload, no renewal calendar.
In some cases (notably Hostinger, which silently rewrites your apex CNAME) the dashboard will surface an extra TXT record to add. The card in Domains shows the exact Host and Value to copy. Add it at your registrar — same place as the CNAMEs — and SSL activation completes within a few minutes.
Path B — Cloudflare nameservers (when apex CNAME isn't allowed)
Some registrars don't accept a CNAME on the apex. You'll typically see one of these symptoms:
The registrar's panel rejects
CNAME @outright.The
CNAME @saves but the registrar silently flattens it and your domain ends up pointing at the wrong target.The Verify card shows a flatten warning.
In these cases the dashboard switches to the Cloudflare DNS wizard. The flow is:
Step 1 — Create the Cloudflare zone. Click Set up Cloudflare DNS in the dashboard. We create a zone for your domain on Cloudflare and pre-load the right records.
Step 2 — Change your nameservers. The dashboard shows you two
Nameservervalues of the formsomething.ns.cloudflare.com(for exampleabby.ns.cloudflare.comandrick.ns.cloudflare.com). The exact pair is unique to your zone, so copy them from the dashboard with the Copy buttons rather than typing an example. Sign in to your registrar, find the Nameservers section (Hostinger: hPanel → Domains → DNS/Nameservers → Change nameservers), and replace the existing nameservers with the two Cloudflare ones.Step 3 — Wait for activation. You will not receive a Cloudflare email — the zone lives on DZBuild's Cloudflare account, not yours. While the setup is still incomplete the dashboard re-checks nameserver propagation on its own, and you can force a check with the Check status button; the step flips to Activated — DNS is running through Cloudflare when it lands. Propagation usually takes minutes but can take up to 24 hours.
⚠️ Warning — DNSSEC must be off
If your registrar has DNSSEC enabled on the domain, disable it before changing nameservers — otherwise the switch fails and resolvers will refuse the new nameservers. The dashboard reminds you of this on Step 2.
After activation, Cloudflare manages your domain's DNS. Your storefront is live on myshop.com and www.myshop.com, SSL is automatic, and you don't have to manage any records yourself unless you want to add things like an MX record for email — those go through your Cloudflare dashboard.
Verifying it's working
Two quick checks:
Open
https://myshop.comin a private window. Your storefront should load (and the URL should stay onmyshop.com, not redirect away).From a terminal:
bash dig +short myshop.comIt should resolve. The exact target doesn't matter — Cloudflare's edge handles routing — what matters is that something resolves and the storefront opens.
DZBuild also self-heals — connected custom domains are re-checked automatically and the SSL state is repaired if anything drifts.
Common pitfalls
Symptom | Cause | Fix |
"CNAME @ is not allowed" at the registrar | Provider doesn't support apex CNAME | Use Path B (Cloudflare nameservers) |
Domain verifies but SSL stays Pending | Provider flattens CNAME | Add the TXT record the dashboard shows under Extra step required — SSL activation |
Nameserver switch doesn't take effect | DNSSEC is enabled | Disable DNSSEC, then re-add the nameservers |
Verify still failing after 1 hour | TTL too high on old records | Lower TTL to 300, wait one TTL cycle, re-verify |
Storefront opens on the right domain but customers say "not secure" | SSL still issuing (5–10 min after first verification) | Wait, hard-refresh, retry |
Domain was working, now the storefront is back on the dzbuild.app subdomain | The plan expired and the domain was auto-unlinked | Renew, then re-link and re-verify the domain |
What happens when your plan expires
⚠️ Warning — The link is removed automatically
Linking a domain during the 3-day Pro trial works — but roughly 12 hours after the trial (or any paid plan) expires, DZBuild removes the link and your storefront reverts to {your-slug}.dzbuild.app.
You keep the domain at your registrar. After renewing, re-link and re-verify it at /dashboard/domains.
Removing a domain
Dashboard → Domains → click Remove. We stop accepting traffic on that hostname. Your storefront falls back to {your-slug}.dzbuild.app. We don't delete the records at your registrar — that's yours to clean up.
Frequently asked
Q: Can I use a .dz domain? A: Yes. No .dz registrar is in the auto-detection list, so if yours refuses an apex CNAME the dashboard will not switch you to Path B by itself — point www at link.dzbuild.app, or open the "Can't add a record on the root domain (@)?" help card on the Domains page and use its link to reveal the Cloudflare-nameservers wizard.
Q: Do you publish an IP I can put in an A record? A: No. DZBuild doesn't expose origin IPs. Always use the CNAME to link.dzbuild.app (or the Cloudflare nameservers flow). Anything telling you to set A @ {some-ip} is wrong.
Q: How long does propagation take? A: Usually 5–30 minutes for CNAMEs, up to a few hours for nameserver changes. The 24-hour figure you'll read online is a worst case from the 1990s — modern resolvers refresh much faster.
Q: Will www.myshop.com work? A: Yes. You can point www at link.dzbuild.app as well as — or instead of — the apex. Verification accepts either, and the storefront is served on both. DZBuild always stores the apex form, so www.myshop.com resolves to the same store, and the Verify field itself accepts myshop.com or www.myshop.com.
Q: Multiple stores, one domain? A: One custom domain per store. If you run multiple stores, each one needs its own subdomain or apex.
Q: Does this affect SEO? A: Positively — search engines treat myshop.com as a real brand. Canonical URLs are set automatically. After the domain goes live, submit a sitemap to Google Search Console for the new hostname.