Anticode Open builder

Connect Namecheap domain names to your site with Advanced DNS

To connect Namecheap domain names to an Anticode site, add the hostname in Anticode's Domains panel, then create the CNAME it shows under Advanced DNS in Namecheap, with www (or another subdomain) as the host. Subdomains are the easy case because a CNAME is allowed there; the bare name is best sent to www with a URL redirect.

Updated · By the Anticode team

Why a subdomain is the simple case

Anticode serves custom domains through Cloudflare for SaaS, which expects your hostname to be a CNAME pointing at Anticode's target. DNS lets any subdomain be a CNAME: www, book, shop, events. The bare domain is different, because it carries records that must stay put, including the MX records your email depends on. Namecheap's own CNAME guide says not to create a CNAME for @ for exactly that reason, and to use www plus a URL redirect for the root instead.

So pick the subdomain first. For a main website, www.yourbusiness.com. For a page that sits beside an existing site, something descriptive like book.yourbusiness.com or tickets.yourbusiness.com, which leaves your current website untouched.

Before you start

  • A paid Anticode plan and a published site. See pricing for which plans include custom domains.
  • Namecheap's DNS in charge. Namecheap says CNAME records can be set in its DNS for domains on BasicDNS, PremiumDNS or FreeDNS. If the domain uses another provider's nameservers, add the records there instead.

Add the records

  1. In Anticode, open Domains, type the hostname (for example www.yourbusiness.com) under Connect a domain and press Connect. Copy the CNAME target from the table, and the TXT name and value if one is shown.
  2. In Namecheap, sign in, open Domain List and choose Manage next to the domain.
  3. Open the Advanced DNS tab and choose Add New Record under Host Records.
  4. Choose CNAME. In Host, type only the subdomain, www, without repeating your domain. In Value, paste Anticode's target.
  5. Set the TTL to the lowest value offered, so a mistake is quick to correct.
  6. Add the TXT record the same way if Anticode showed one, entering the host without the trailing domain.
  7. Choose Save All Changes.
  8. Delete any other record using the same host: another CNAME, an A record, an ALIAS or a URL redirect for www. Namecheap warns that these conflict with the new CNAME.

Namecheap suggests allowing about 30 minutes for a new record. Anticode's panel says a few minutes is typical and up to a day is possible. Come back and press Check again; the status changes from Waiting for DNS to Live once the name is verified and its certificate issued. The certificate is handled for you, with no upload or renewal on your side.

Sending the bare name to www

Once www is live, people who type yourbusiness.com should land there too. Anticode doesn't redirect between www and the bare domain itself, so set it up at Namecheap: add a URL redirect record for @ pointing at https://www.yourbusiness.com, as the Namecheap guide recommends. If you're given a choice of redirect types, pick the permanent one and avoid any masked or framed option. Anticode sites are served with frame-ancestors 'none', so browsers refuse to show them inside another page, and a masked redirect won't display your site.

Limits

  • One site per hostname. A name already connected to an Anticode site can't be connected to another.
  • A set number of domains per plan. The Domains panel tells you when you've reached it.
  • Registration stays at Namecheap. Anticode doesn't sell, transfer or renew domains.
  • Unpublishing releases the domain. Publish again later and you'll need to connect it again with the records the panel shows then.

Troubleshooting

The record exists but nothing changes
Check the domain's nameservers are Namecheap's (BasicDNS, PremiumDNS or FreeDNS). Otherwise Advanced DNS isn't the live configuration.
The host became www.yourbusiness.com.yourbusiness.com
You typed the full name in Host. Change it to www.
Still Waiting for DNS
A parking page, old A record or URL redirect for www is still there. Remove it.
Email stopped after a change
A CNAME was put on @. Remove it and restore your mail records.
Couldn't verify
Fix the record, remove the domain in Anticode and connect it again.

Other DNS hosts work the same way with different screens: see GoDaddy and Cloudflare DNS. The general guide to connecting a custom domain explains the records, and moving a domain to a new website covers switching from an old site.

Questions people ask

Can I connect a subdomain while my main site stays elsewhere?

Yes. Connect book.yourbusiness.com, say, and add a CNAME for book only. Your main site and email aren't affected.

Do I need to give Anticode my Namecheap login?

No. You add the records yourself. Anticode only checks, through Cloudflare, that the records are in place.

Why does Namecheap warn against a CNAME on @?

A CNAME can't share its name with other records, and the bare domain needs others, such as MX for email. Use www and a redirect instead.

Sources

  1. Namecheap Knowledgebase: How to create a CNAME record for your domain, checked