---
description: >-
  Use your own domain with a Sitekick AI Studio site — what to expect when
  connecting a domain you already own.
title: "Using your own domain"
canonical_url: https://docs.sitekick.ai/studio/publishing/custom-domains
source_url: https://github.com/aketchel/sitekickai_docs/blob/main/sitekick-studio-documentation/publishing/custom-domains.md
---

# Using your own domain

Your Studio site gets a Sitekick address when it publishes. When you are
ready, you can use a domain you already own instead.

## Before you start

Have the account where you bought the domain — your registrar — handy. You
(or whoever manages the domain) will need to make a small change there so the
domain points to your Studio site.

## How it works

Connecting a domain follows the same pattern everywhere:

1. You tell Studio which domain you want to use.
2. Studio asks you to verify that you control it.
3. You update the domain's DNS settings at your registrar.
4. Studio confirms the connection, and the domain serves your site.

DNS changes can take anywhere from minutes to a couple of days to take
effect. That is normal — the time it takes is set by the wider DNS system,
not by Studio.

## Things to know

- **Your site stays live during the switch.** The Sitekick address keeps
  working until your domain takes over.
- **You keep ownership of the domain.** Studio points it at your site; it
  never takes the domain away from your registrar.
- **Changes come from your registrar.** Sitekick will never ask you to
  transfer a domain or buy one through us.

## Help with domains

If a domain check keeps failing, the most common causes are DNS records
that conflict with each other, or a typo in the record Studio asked you to
create. Double-check what you entered at the registrar before anything
else.