Using Domain Apex with Endpoints

📘 Note

This article assumes that you have created an Endpoint for your App, and that you have the Endpoint Hostname (the string that looks like elb-XXX.aptible.in) in hand.

If you don't have that, start here: How do I expose my web app on the Internet?.

As noted in the Custom Domain documentation, Aptible requires that you create a CNAME from the domain of your choice to the Endpoint Hostname.

Unfortunately, DNS does not allow the creation of CNAMEs for domain apexes (also known as "bare domains" or "root domains").

There are two options to work around this problem, redirecting to a subdomain and using an ALIAS record. Using the redirect approach is strongly recommended.

📘 Note

Regardless of the approach you choose, you'll need a provider that supports ALIAS records (also known as CNAME flattening), such as Amazon Route 53, Cloudflare, or DNSimple.

If your DNS records are hosted somewhere else, you will need to migrate to one of these providers or use a different solution (we very strongly recommend against doing that).

Note that you only need to update the NS records for your domain (in other words: you can keep using your existing provider as a registrar, and you don't need to transfer the domain over to one of the providers we recommend).