Connect a custom domain

Custom domains are available on the Starter plan (£2.99/mo) and above. Instead of yourname.tubecms.app, your site can live at www.yourdomain.com.

There are two ways to connect your domain: automatic setup (if your registrar supports it) or manual CNAME setup.

Option 1: Automatic setup (Domain Connect)

Some domain registrars support the Domain Connect protocol, which lets TubeCMS configure your DNS automatically — no manual records needed.

1. Go to Admin Panel → Settings → General, then the Custom Domain tab
2. Enter your domain (e.g. www.yourdomain.com)
3. Click Set Up Automatically
4. You'll be redirected to your registrar to approve the DNS change
5. Approve, and you'll be sent back to TubeCMS
6. SSL is provisioned automatically — your domain will be active within minutes

Registrars that support automatic setup: Cloudflare, NameSilo and others.

If your registrar isn't listed, you'll need to use manual setup instead.

Option 2: Manual CNAME setup

If your registrar doesn't support Domain Connect, you can add a CNAME record manually.

1. Go to Admin Panel → Settings → General, then the Custom Domain tab
2. Log in to your domain registrar's DNS settings
3. Add a CNAME record:

4. Back in TubeCMS, enter your domain and click Save Domain
5. Wait for DNS propagation (usually 5–30 minutes, occasionally up to 24 hours)
6. TubeCMS checks the status automatically — you can also click Check Status to poll manually

DNS help by provider

Using a root domain (no www)

Most DNS providers don't allow a CNAME record on the root domain (yourdomain.com). You have two options:

Option A: Use a provider that supports CNAME flattening. These providers allow CNAME-like records on the root domain: Cloudflare DNS, Namecheap DNS, NameSilo, AWS Route 53, DNSimple, DNS Made Easy.

Option B: Use www.yourdomain.com and set up a redirect from the root domain to www at your registrar. Most providers offer this in their settings or via an A record redirect.

TubeCMS will warn you during setup if your domain may not support root domain CNAME records.

Spam protection (Turnstile)

Your contact form and subscribe forms use Cloudflare Turnstile for spam protection. The platform-level Turnstile keys only work on .tubecms.app subdomains — your contact form and subscribe forms will be disabled on your custom domain until you add your own Turnstile keys.

To set this up:

1. Go to the Cloudflare dashboard → Turnstile → Add Widget
2. Add your custom domain as an allowed hostname
3. Copy the Site Key and Secret Key
4. In TubeCMS, go to Admin Panel → Settings → General, then the Integrations tab
5. Paste both keys and save

Once configured, your contact form and subscribe forms will work on your custom domain.

SSL / HTTPS

SSL certificates are provisioned automatically by Cloudflare once your domain is connected. No configuration needed — all traffic is served over HTTPS. Certificate renewal is handled automatically.

The status in your admin panel will show:

• Pending — DNS is propagating and SSL is being provisioned
• Active — everything is working
• Failed — provisioning failed (check your DNS records, or remove and try again)

SEO

When you connect a custom domain, TubeCMS automatically:

• Sets up 301 redirects from your .tubecms.app subdomain to your custom domain
• Updates canonical URLs, Open Graph tags, and structured data
• Updates your sitemap with the correct domain

This ensures Google indexes your custom domain and doesn't treat the subdomain as duplicate content.

Removing a custom domain

Go to Admin Panel → Settings → General, then the Custom Domain tab, and click Remove Domain. Your site will revert to yourname.tubecms.app immediately.