Custom domains
When you publish your app, your app automatically gets hosted at a “glide.page” address. With a paid Glide plan, you can publish your app to your own custom domain.
For instance, instead of going to a domain like d0sda.glide.page, you can publish your app on your own custom domain – for example, app.glidebakery.com
Glide's custom domain configuration will show you which DNS records you need to set up your custom domain. If you're unsure of this process, follow our guide below or reach out to your domain name provider for support.
Step 1: Purchase a domain
First things first, you have to own a domain. Your domain can be hosted anywhere. If you already have your own domain hosted with another provider, that's fine. The interface will be different, but the concepts and processes are very similar.
Step 2: Choose between a subdomain or a normal domain
Once you have your own domain, the next step is to decide if you wish to host your app on a subdomain or on a normal domain, for example:
app.glidebakery.com vs. glidebakery.com
you can swap "app" with anything you want
If you are using www.yourdomain.com and you want your app to also be reachable via yourdomain.com, you'll need to create two additional custom records, as follows:
CNAME www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com
CNAME _glideauthid.www.yourdomain.com to _glideauthid.yourdomain.com
Step 3: Find your DNS settings
Next, Glide will ask you to add some records to your domain's DNS settings. To do this, you need to find the “DNS Records” section in your domain name provider's account or dashboard. This will look different for each domain provider, but here are the general steps:
Look for an area that's related to DNS, e.g. Manage DNS, Advanced DNS, etc.
Locate the area or section where you can add “records”
If you get stuck, contact your domain name provider's support.
There are three parts to a record. These are sometimes labeled differently, but most domain providers use the following names:
The host
The type
The data
Make sure IP address is correct
It is crucial to use the correct IP address when setting up your custom domains. Rather than reusing the IP address from a previous step, ensure the IP is correct each time you use it.
Step 4: Use Glide's custom domain wizard
Glide's Custom Domain Configuration will help you to add the right records to your domain.
Click on the Share Button in Glide, click on Domain, and then click the Configure button to launch the wizard.
The wizard will give you details for the DNS Records that you need to setup on your domain provider's DNS Settings. Simply copy these into your DNS settings and click on Continue.
Value for TTL
If your domain provider requests you to provide a value for TTL (time till live), enter the duration of 1 hour or 3600 if in seconds.
Step 5: Wait!
After adding your records, you're done! Just wait around 30 minutes for the records to propagate. Note that for some domain providers, you may need to wait for 24 hours before your changes take effect.
Issues when configuring a custom domain
You may encounter some issues when you're trying to use a custom domain for your app. Here are some of the issues and how you can address them:
Incorrectly configured records
If your records are incorrectly configured, an error will show up in the custom domain configuration. The best thing to do here is to go back and check whether you've followed the process of configuring your domain to make sure you didn't miss anything.
Contact your domain name provider
Contact your domain name provider if you keep on running into the same issue. Your domain provider can help set up the records for you if needed.
Waiting
Don't forget to wait for 30 minutes or for up to 24 hours for DNS records to propagate. If you check less than the required time, you may not see the changes applied.
Conflicting records
You may run into issues when adding records due to conflicting records that already exist in your DNS. It may be best to contact your domain provider's support for assistance here, or if you're feeling confident, delete the conflicting records yourself—but be careful!
Access to DNS
If you purchased a domain as part of a hosting package or any other package, you may have limited access to your DNS settings. If this is the case, contact your domain provider's support for assistance in setting up your DNS records.
CloudFlare
If CloudFlare is your DNS provider, make sure you are not using orange cloud. Records will need to be grey cloud to be compatible with Glide.
Cache
Clear your browser's cache in case you've visited your custom domain prior to using it for your Glide app. Your browser may have stored the resources previously connected to your domain and is still displaying this stored information instead of your app (even if it has been updated). To check whether it's a cache issue, try visiting your new domain on a different browser or on your phone.
Old URL & QR code
When you've published your app using a custom domain, your QR code changes. Make sure you use this new QR code and share this with others. The old QR code for your glide.page URL still works, but it will send people to the .glide.page URL, not your new custom domain.
Transfer domain to another app
If you want to use your custom domain for another app, simply set up the DNS settings for that app and then remove the DNS settings for the previous app. Glide will manage the switch for you. However, you'll need to wait again up to 24 hours before the changes take effect.