Every app gets a free *.vibehost.space URL by default. Add a custom hostname when you want to ship it under your own brand.

Add a domain

vibehost domain add www.example.com --app my-site

Output:

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "hostname": "www.example.com",
    "verificationCnameTarget": "cname.vibehost-dns.com",
    "status": "pending_verification"
  }
}

Configure DNS

Add a CNAME record at your DNS provider:

CNAME  www  cname.vibehost-dns.com

The target is a shared edge hostname on our SaaS DNS zone, not the per-app <app>.vibehost.space URL. One CNAME target works for every custom domain — our edge routes by Host header, not by which tenant the CNAME points at.

vibehost domain add www.example.com --app my-site prints the current target the API expects (it can change if we migrate zones), so prefer copying from the CLI output over hard-coding this string.

Open the zone for your domain.
DNS → Add record.
Type: CNAME. Name: www. Target: cname.vibehost-dns.com.
Proxy status: DNS only (grey cloud) initially — let VibeHost provision the cert directly. You can flip to proxied (orange cloud) later if you want Cloudflare in front of VibeHost.
SSL/TLS encryption mode → Full or Full (strict). Avoid Flexible — it breaks HSTS.

Open the hosted zone.
Create record.
Record type: CNAME. Record name: www. Value: cname.vibehost-dns.com. TTL: 300.

The DNS spec doesn't allow CNAME at the apex of a zone. Pick one:

ALIAS / ANAME / flattened CNAME — Cloudflare, Route 53, DNSimple all support a non-RFC ALIAS/ANAME record that behaves like CNAME at apex. Target it at cname.vibehost-dns.com.
Redirect apex → www — set apex to redirect to https://www.example.com (most DNS providers do this for free) and CNAME www to cname.vibehost-dns.com as above.

Verify and provision the cert

vibehost domain verify www.example.com --app my-site

The verifier checks DNS resolution, then provisions a Let's Encrypt cert on demand. Usually completes in under a minute. Status transitions:

pending_verification → dns_verified → cert_provisioning → active

If it stalls in dns_verified for >5 minutes, the cert issuer probably hit a rate limit. Run vibehost domain verify again in 10 minutes.

Manage

vibehost domain list --app my-site
vibehost domain remove www.example.com --app my-site

Removing a domain stops routing immediately but doesn't revoke the cert (Let's Encrypt revocation is rate-limited; we let certs expire).

Multiple domains per app

You can attach as many hostnames as you like:

vibehost domain add example.com --app my-site
vibehost domain add www.example.com --app my-site
vibehost domain add example.net --app my-site

All resolve to the same deployment. The primary URL in app.url stays as the alias *.vibehost.space — custom hostnames are additional, not replacing.

Redirects

vibehost redirects list --app my-site
vibehost redirects add /old-path /new-path --app my-site
vibehost redirects remove <ruleId> --app my-site

For bulk changes, upload a JSON file of rules and then sync (which diffs the file against the live rules and applies the difference):

vibehost redirects upload ./redirects.json --app my-site
vibehost redirects sync --app my-site

DNS provider walkthroughs

Open the zone for your domain at dash.cloudflare.com.
DNS → Add record.
Type: CNAME. Name: www. Target: cname.vibehost-dns.com.
Proxy status: start as DNS only (grey cloud). Let VibeHost provision the cert first.
SSL/TLS encryption mode: choose Full or Full (strict). Avoid Flexible — it strips HTTPS between Cloudflare and VibeHost and breaks HSTS.
After cert provisions, you can flip the proxy to proxied (orange cloud) if you want Cloudflare's CDN in front of VibeHost — but you'll need Full strict and you may double-cache.

Verify with the following — it should return cname.vibehost-dns.com.:

dig +short CNAME www.example.com @1.1.1.1

Console → Route 53 → Hosted zones → your domain.
Create record.
Record name: www. Record type: CNAME. Value: cname.vibehost-dns.com. TTL: 300.
Create records.

For apex (example.com with no www), Route 53 Alias only points at AWS resources (CloudFront, ALB, S3 websites) — it can't target an external host like cname.vibehost-dns.com. Two paths instead: (a) use Route 53 to redirect apex → www (via an S3 website bucket + Alias, the classic pattern), then CNAME www to cname.vibehost-dns.com; or (b) move the zone to a provider with true ANAME / CNAME flattening (Cloudflare, DNSimple, Porkbun).

Verify:

dig +short CNAME www.example.com @ns-XXX.awsdns-XX.com

Domain List → Manage next to your domain.
Advanced DNS tab.
Add New Record.
Type: CNAME Record. Host: www. Value: cname.vibehost-dns.com. (trailing dot is optional but Namecheap shows it). TTL: Automatic.
Save.

For apex, switch to Namecheap's URL Redirect Record to redirect bare → www (Namecheap doesn't support CNAME at apex).

Domain dashboard → DNS for the domain.
Add → CNAME.
Name: www. Value: cname.vibehost-dns.com. TTL: 1 hour.
Save.

GoDaddy's free DNS doesn't support CNAME flattening at apex — either move to Cloudflare for free, or use GoDaddy's Forward (HTTP 301) to redirect apex → www.

Google sold Google Domains to Squarespace; the underlying DNS panel is similar.

DNS → Manage custom records.
Create new record.
Host: www. Type: CNAME. TTL: 3600. Data: cname.vibehost-dns.com.
Save.

Manage DNS for the domain.
Add Record.
Type: CNAME. Host: www. Answer: cname.vibehost-dns.com. TTL: 600.
Save.

Porkbun supports ALIAS records at apex — use that to point example.com → cname.vibehost-dns.com directly.

The DNS spec doesn't allow CNAME at the apex of a zone, and we don't terminate apex traffic via an A record — there's no fixed VibeHost IP to point at. Two workarounds:

ALIAS / ANAME / flattened CNAME — Cloudflare (flattening built-in), DNSimple (ANAME), Porkbun (ALIAS), Hetzner (ALIAS). These behave like CNAME at apex and can target external hosts like cname.vibehost-dns.com. (Route 53's Alias is AWS-resources-only and can't target us directly — see the Route 53 tab.)
HTTP redirect from apex to www — most registrars (Namecheap, GoDaddy, Porkbun) offer a free "URL forward" that 301s example.com → https://www.example.com. Pair with a normal CNAME on www.

Recommendation: option (1) on a provider that supports it, otherwise (2) for simplicity. If vibehost domain add example.com --app my-site rejects the apex, that's the API enforcing this — error message names the same two paths.

Verification failure modes

vibehost domain verify returns one of three precise codes instead of a generic VALIDATION_FAILED:

Code	What it means	What to do
`DOMAIN_VERIFY_RECORD_NOT_FOUND`	DNS resolved to NXDOMAIN / ENODATA	Record not published yet, or DNS hasn't propagated. Wait 5–15 min and retry.
`DOMAIN_VERIFY_RECORD_MISMATCH`	CNAME exists but points elsewhere	Compare `details.observed` vs `details.expected`. Update the record to match.
`DOMAIN_VERIFY_DNS_TIMEOUT`	Resolvers didn't respond inside 3s × 3 tries	Transient. Retry shortly.

All three remain HTTP 400 / CLI exit code 3. Use the code to branch your retry logic; the human message is for display only.

Subdomain takeover protection

If you vibehost domain add www.example.com then never publish the matching DNS record, the hostname stays in pending_verification indefinitely — we don't accept traffic to it. This prevents "dangling CNAME" subdomain-takeover attacks (where you delete an app but leave the CNAME pointing at us).

When you remove a domain (vibehost domain remove), the cert stops serving immediately. If you later re-add the same hostname, you go through pending_verification → active again.

Concurrent claims on the same domain

If two workspaces both try to verify the same hostname concurrently (e.g. a misconfigured DNS pointing at someone else's app), the second one will get 409 RECLAIM_LOST_RACE. The losing side should re-check whether their CNAME actually points where they think it does.

Limits

Constraint	Default cap
Hostnames per app	25
Hostnames per workspace	250
Redirects per app	500
`vibehost domain verify` retries / min	30

Higher caps available on Enterprise plans.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
`vibehost domain add` returns `cannot add a hostname under the platform's own domain`	You tried `.vibehost.com` / `.vibehost.space`	Pick a hostname you own at a public registrar
`pending_verification` for >10 min	DNS not propagated, or record mismatch	`dig CNAME <host>` to compare; re-run `domain verify`
Cert stays in `cert_provisioning` for >5 min	Let's Encrypt rate-limit hit (rare)	Wait 10 min, retry `verify`. Email `contact@vibehost.com` if it repeats
`Cloudflare error 525` on the user-facing domain	CF proxy + Full strict, cert mismatch	Switch CF SSL to `Full` (not `Full strict`) initially; bump to `Full strict` once cert is `active`
Site loads on apex but not `www` (or vice versa)	Only one hostname added	`vibehost domain add` both, or set a `URL Forward` from one to the other at the registrar

Custom domains