Connect a custom domain with SSL, including the apex
This guide connects your own domain to a Naijacloud web service or static site, both the apex (example.com) and www.example.com, with HTTPS certificates issued and renewed for you. At the end both names load your app over HTTPS, www redirects to the apex, and your naijacloud.app address keeps working. It works with any DNS provider; the only tool is your provider’s DNS settings page.
dnshttps://example.com serving your app with a valid certificate, https://www.example.com redirecting to it, and nothing else about the service changed.
Before you start
- A service that’s already live at its naijacloud.app address. Any web service or static site works; this guide uses one called
shop. - A domain, and access to its DNS records at your provider. You can also register a domain on Naijacloud, which puts its DNS here too.
Add the domain to the service
Open the service and go to Domains. The first row is the Default domain, shop.naijacloud.app, already Verified · HTTPS ready. Your domain goes on top of it; the default keeps working.
Type example.com into Custom domain and click Add domain. Because it’s a root domain, the dashboard also offers to connect www.example.com: click Add www, and www redirects to the apex.
Read the records it shows
Each domain lists the DNS records it needs in a table with Type, Name and Value columns, and a copy button on every value. What you see depends on the domain and the region the service runs in:
- An A record for a root domain, and in some regions for every domain. Its value is an IP address.
- A CNAME for a subdomain in regions that use one, often with TXT records beside it. Those prove you own the domain and let the certificate be issued.
Use the values in the table, not ones from another guide or another service. They’re specific to where your service runs.
Create the records at your provider
At your DNS provider, add each record exactly as shown, one by one. For the Name, providers differ: some want the full name (www.example.com), others only the part before your domain (www), and @ for the root.
Wait for verification and HTTPS
Back on Domains, each new domain shows Waiting for DNS…. It checks again on its own, and Check now checks immediately. When your records resolve, the certificate is issued and the status changes to Verified · HTTPS ready.
Most changes show up within minutes. A record that had a long TTL before you changed it can take as long as that TTL to update everywhere, which is why the migration guides lower the TTL a day or two ahead.
Check both names
Open https://example.com: it loads your app with a valid certificate. Open https://www.example.com: it lands on https://example.com. Certificates renew on their own; there’s nothing to schedule.
To remove a domain later, click Remove on its row and confirm with Remove domain, then delete the records at your provider.