Custom domains

Every Help Center starts on a hosted address under recordslabs.site. To use your own hostname, such as help.yourcompany.com, you prove you own the domain once, then point each Help Center's address at Records Labs.

Step 1: verify your domain once

You do this under Settings → Custom Domains, in the Verified parent domains card. You need permission to change organization settings.

1. Enter your domain (for example yourcompany.com) and click Add domain.

2. The card shows one TXT record to add wherever you manage your domain's DNS (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, and so on). Copy each value exactly:

3. Wait for DNS to propagate (usually minutes), then click Verify. The domain changes from "Waiting for DNS" to Verified.

Any address under a verified domain, such as help.yourcompany.com, can now be picked straight from a list. No DNS proof is needed per site.

Step 2: put a Help Center on it

• New site. Under Help Desk → Help Center, click New Help Center, pick your verified domain under Domain, and enter the host label (such as help).

• Existing site. Open the site's Basics step. In the Domain card, open Move to one of your verified domains instead (or Change this address on a site that is already on a custom domain), pick the domain, enter the host label, and click Move.

Then add a CNAME record at your DNS provider:

The site is already verified, so it goes live as soon as the CNAME points at Records Labs. When you move a site, its old address stops working right away; add the CNAME before you click Move to keep the gap short.

Notes:

• The CNAME target is always custom.recordslabs.site. Do not point it at the app or at another site.

• A host label is required. A Help Center cannot take over the bare domain.

• If the records are not found yet, give propagation a few more minutes and retry. Changes usually show up in minutes but can take up to an hour, and rarely longer with some providers.

Removing a verified domain does not take existing Help Centers under it offline; it only drops the domain from the list for new sites. To take a site down, use Unpublish or Remove this Help Center in its builder.

The Connect a domain button at the top of Settings → Custom Domains registers a single hostname for publishing Creations. Removing one of those stops every page published on it.

TLS

Certificates are issued automatically once the CNAME is in place. There is nothing to upload. To check, open the address in a browser: when it loads over https, you are done. The Domain card on the Basics step may still say "verified · waiting on the CNAME below for SSL" after that. Once the site loads, you can ignore it.

Common fixes

• Using Cloudflare? Set the record's proxy status to DNS only (the grey cloud), so the CNAME resolves to Records Labs directly.

• Host field. Some providers want just the subdomain (help), others the full name. Enter it exactly as shown on the card.

• TXT name. The verification record is at _records-labs-verify. followed by the domain you are verifying, not the Help Center's full hostname.

• Still not connecting after an hour? See How to reach support.

Related

• Creating a Help Center

• Collections and navigation

• Gated access and the customer portal