How to connect your custom domain

You connect a domain you already own by adding two DNS records at your domain provider that point it to your Repaint site. The easiest way to do this is to ask the AI. It adds the domain for you, gives you the exact records to add, and checks your setup as you go.

Before you connect

Connecting a custom domain is a Repaint Premium feature. On the free plan, your site lives on a free sites.repaint.com address, which you can customize, but you can't connect a domain of your own. See how to choose a plan.

You also need to already own the domain. Repaint doesn't sell domains, so if you don't have one yet, buy one from a domain provider first. Everything else, like adding records and managing DNS, happens at that provider, not in Repaint.

How to connect your domain

The simplest way to connect a domain is to ask the AI in the chat. It walks you through every step, so the only thing left to you is adding the records at your provider:

1. Ask the AI to connect your domain, and tell it the domain you want to use, like yoursite.com.
2. Get your records. Repaint adds the domain to your site and gives you two DNS records to add, along with where to put them at your provider.
3. Add the records. Log in to your domain provider, find its DNS settings, and enter the records Repaint gave you. This is the one step you do yourself, since the records live with your provider, not in Repaint.
4. Check back with the AI. Once your records are in, tell the AI your setup is done and ask how it looks. It reads your live records and confirms whether the connection is correct.
5. Visit your site. Open your domain in a browser and confirm your site loads, with the address showing as secure over https.

Your site settings also have a domains tab, where you can see every domain connected to your site and its current status, from pending to verified or failed. It's a useful place to check on your domains at a glance, while the AI handles the actual work of connecting them.

Adding the DNS records

DNS records live at your domain provider, the company you bought the domain from. They're how the internet knows to send your domain to your Repaint site. Repaint gives you the exact values to enter, so you don't need to understand DNS to set them up.

There are two records to add:

• An A record at `@`, which points your root domain (yoursite.com) at Repaint.
• A CNAME record at `www`, which points the www version (www.yoursite.com) at Repaint.

The exact steps for adding records vary by provider. If you're not sure where to enter them, ask the AI how to add records in your provider, and it can walk you through it. It knows the steps for all the major providers.

If your domain already has records, you usually need to remove the old ones that conflict. This is the most common thing people miss, so it's worth asking the AI to check. It can read your current records and tell you precisely which to delete, which to keep, and which to add.

Once your domain connects, Repaint sets up SSL for you automatically, so your site is served securely over https with no extra steps.

How long it takes to go live

After you add your records, they don't take effect everywhere instantly. Domain providers need time to publish the change, and the rest of the internet needs time to pick it up. This delay is called DNS propagation, and it's a normal part of connecting any domain, not something specific to Repaint.

The vast majority of the time, your domain is connected within about 20 minutes. If it's taking longer than that, there's probably an issue with the records.

If it's not working

Nearly every connection problem comes down to the records. Either the right records weren't added, or old conflicting records weren't cleared. Both are quick to fix once you know which is which.

The fastest way to debug is to ask the AI how your connection is doing. It can read your live records and tell you if you have to add, change, or delete anything. If you're still stuck after that, contact support and we can help you sort it out.

What happens if you cancel

Because custom domains are a Premium feature, canceling your plan disconnects any custom domains you've connected, and your site falls back to its sites.repaint.com address. If you upgrade again later, your custom domains reconnect automatically, with no need to set the records up again.