Your store · 5 min read

Connecting your own domain name

The exact DNS records to add, where to add them, and how to tell when it has worked.

Every artCart.AI account works immediately on a free subdomain, so nothing is blocking you from selling on day one. When you are ready to run the store on a domain you own, it takes two DNS records.

What you need first

A domain name you have registered — from Namecheap, GoDaddy, Google Domains, Cloudflare or anyone else.
Access to that registrar's DNS settings.
Your domain entered in Settings › Domain URL in your artCart.AI dashboard.

Step 1: add the domain in your dashboard

Sign in, open Settings, and put your domain into the Domain URL field — just the domain itself, for example example.com, with no https:// and no trailing slash. Save. This tells us which store to serve when requests for that domain arrive.

Step 2: add an A record

In your registrar's DNS panel, add a record with these values:

Field	Value
Type	`A`
Host / Name	`@` (some registrars want the domain itself, or leave it blank)
Value / Points to	`162.240.54.215`
TTL	Automatic, or 3600

The @ symbol means "the domain itself" — example.com with nothing in front of it.

Step 3: add a CNAME record

This is what makes www.example.com work as well as example.com:

Field	Value
Type	`CNAME`
Host / Name	`www`
Value / Points to	your domain, e.g. `example.com`
TTL	Automatic, or 3600

Step 4: wait

DNS changes propagate across the internet gradually. Most take fifteen minutes to two hours; the outside case is 48 hours. There is nothing you can do to speed this up, and re-editing the records restarts the clock, so resist the urge to fiddle.

To check progress, search for a "DNS propagation checker" and enter your domain. When the A record shows 162.240.54.215 from most locations, you are through.

Step 5: confirm it works

Visit your domain. You should see your storefront. Check all four forms:

example.com
www.example.com
https://example.com
https://www.example.com

All four should land on your store over HTTPS. The secure certificate is issued automatically once DNS resolves, which can take a little longer than the DNS itself — if you see a certificate warning in the first hour, give it a while before worrying.

Common problems

"This site can't be reached" after several hours

Usually the A record host field. Some registrars want @, some want the bare domain, and some want it left empty. Check your registrar's help page for which convention they use, and make sure you have not accidentally created a record for @.example.com.

The old site still shows

Either an old A record is still present — delete any others pointing elsewhere — or your browser has cached it. Try a private window, or a different device on a different network.

Certificate warning that will not clear

Give it a few hours after DNS resolves. If it persists past a day, email us.

Email stopped working

Only change the A and CNAME records described above. Leave MX records alone — those route your email, and deleting them is how people accidentally take their own mail offline.

Using a subdomain instead

To run the store at shop.example.com while keeping your main site elsewhere, create a single A record with the host shop pointing at 162.240.54.215, and enter shop.example.com as the Domain URL in Settings.

Switching back to a free address

Don't want a custom domain any more? In Settings › Domain, choose Free artcart.ai address and pick a store address - no need to email us.

We will do it with you

DNS is nobody's favourite hour. Email admin@artcart.ai with your domain name and registrar and we will walk through it, or check what you have already set up and tell you what is wrong with it.