Use your own domain

By default, your students take your courses on app.cedarras.com. With a custom domain, they take them on a web address you own instead, like courses.example.com, with your site icon and colors. You still build and manage your courses on app.cedarras.com.

Custom domains are set up by account admins.

Add a domain

Go to Settings → Custom Domains. Under Add a domain, type the domain (for example, courses.example.com) and click Add domain.

A subdomain like courses.example.com is the easiest choice. You can also use a bare domain like example.com.

How many custom domains you can add depends on your plan. When you've reached it, the form is turned off, with a note on how many your plan includes.

Create the DNS records

Your new domain shows as Pending verification, with the exact records to add. You add them where your domain's DNS is managed (your registrar or DNS provider, such as Cloudflare, Route 53, GoDaddy or Namecheap), not in Cedarras. There are two:

1. A TXT record that proves you own the domain. Its name starts with _cedarras-verification. and its value is a code shown on the page. Copy both exactly.
2. A record that sends visitors to Cedarras. For a subdomain, that's a CNAME pointing at domains.cedarras.com. For a bare domain, a plain CNAME isn't allowed by DNS, so use an ALIAS, ANAME or flattened CNAME record pointing at domains.cedarras.com.

If your provider offers none of those for a bare domain, the page also gives an IP address for an A record. Use it only as a last resort: if Cedarras ever changes that address, you'd have to update the record by hand.

Many providers want names entered relative to your domain, so courses.example.com is typed as just courses. Leave the TTL at your provider's default. HTTPS is automatic; there's no certificate to buy or set up.

Verification and Check now

You don't have to do anything after adding the records. Cedarras checks for them automatically: every minute at first, then less and less often, for the first three days. After that it checks once a day. A domain that never verifies stays pending; it isn't removed.

If you've just added or fixed the records, click Check now to check right away. You can use it again after 30 seconds.

DNS changes can take a while to spread, from minutes to hours, depending on your provider.

Once both records are found, the domain turns Verified and starts serving your students. It then turns Active when its HTTPS certificate is ready.

Cedarras keeps checking your domain once a day after that. If the record can't be found, the page shows Last check failed with the reason, but your domain keeps working while you fix it.

What your students see

On your domain, students see only your courses. The home page is their list of your courses, and each course is at your-domain/learn/course-slug. Lessons, Mark complete, quizzes and progress all work just as they do on app.cedarras.com.

Signing in is separate on each address. A student signed in on your domain isn't signed in on app.cedarras.com, and the other way round. They use the same email and password on both.

Once your domain is live, enrollment emails link to your domain instead of app.cedarras.com.

Your site icon and colors

In Settings → Account Details, an admin can upload a Site icon and choose Colors for your student pages. They appear only on your custom domain, including its sign-in page. They never change app.cedarras.com or the app you build courses in.

Site icons and colors depend on your plan. Browsers hold on to site icons, so after changing yours you may need a hard reload to see it.

Remove a domain

In Settings → Custom Domains, click Remove next to the domain and confirm. It stops serving your students immediately. Your courses and students aren't touched; students can still reach their courses on app.cedarras.com. You can then delete the DNS records at your provider.

To get your students in, see Students and enrollment.