Connect your domain

Smart links live on a domain of your own, such as go.yourstore.com. You add it on the Domains page, create one DNS record at your DNS provider, and GrowthFlow issues the certificate for it. Nothing changes on your store.

Choose the hostname

Use a subdomain of the domain your store is on. For a store on yourstore.com, choose go.yourstore.com (any name works: try., shop., offers.). Two reasons:

• Ad policies. Meta and Google check that the domain shown in an ad matches where the ad lands. A link on your own domain redirects to your own pages, so the ad stays on one root domain.
• The visitor cookie. GrowthFlow sets a first-party cookie for the whole root domain (for go.yourstore.com, that is .yourstore.com), so your store can read it too. That keeps attribution working in browsers that block third-party cookies, and gives a second way to match an order when a landing page drops the link’s parameters. On the Domains page, an active domain’s row says which domain the cookie is set on: Visitor cookie on .yourstore.com.

A subdomain of a different domain still routes visitors, but its cookie can’t be read on your store.

You can’t connect:

• the root domain itself (yourstore.com) — connect go.yourstore.com instead;
• an IP address, or a name that isn’t under a public domain suffix;
• a hostname that is already connected in another workspace.

Add the domain

1. Open Domains in the sidebar.
2. Under Add domain, type the hostname in Hostname (just the name: no https://, path or port) and select Add.
3. The domain appears in the table as Pending, and the panel shows the record to add under Add this record for go.yourstore.com at your DNS provider.

The counter next to Add domain shows how many domains your workspace has connected out of how many it may connect.

Add the CNAME record

At your DNS provider, create one record exactly as the page shows it:

Field	Value
Type	CNAME
Name	the part in front of your domain, for example go
Target	the edge hostname shown on the page (use Copy CNAME target)
TTL	Auto (or the provider’s default)

Some providers want the full name (go.yourstore.com) instead of go; the page shows the full name when you hover over the record’s name.

An optional TXT record

If the hostname is still serving something else that you don’t want to switch off yet, the page may also show an Optional TXT record. Adding it proves to Cloudflare that the hostname is yours before the CNAME points at GrowthFlow, so the certificate can be prepared in advance. It is not needed once the CNAME is in place.

If your domain is on Cloudflare

If your DNS is hosted on Cloudflare, add the CNAME in your Cloudflare dashboard as usual and set its proxy status to DNS only (the grey cloud). Leave proxying off: the GrowthFlow edge terminates TLS for the hostname itself.

What each status means

While it is open, the Domains page checks a pending domain about every 10 seconds, less often the longer it stays pending. The Status panel for the selected domain shows three steps:

1. CNAME detected — the hostname resolves to the edge hostname. Until then the row reads Waiting for CNAME.
2. Certificate issued — the certificate for the hostname is ready. While it is being issued the row reads Issuing certificate, and the Certificate column shows its state: Not yet requested, Waiting for validation, Being issued, Deploying, then Issued.
3. Active — links on the hostname are served. The row then names the domain the visitor cookie is set on.

The Status column sums it up:

• Pending — waiting for the record or the certificate. Nothing to do but wait once the record is in place; DNS changes can take a few minutes to show up.
• Active — serving links.
• Error — something needs your attention. The row reads Needs attention and the panel lists what went wrong in plain words (see Troubleshooting below).

Use Check now on a pending or failed domain to check it straight away instead of waiting, and Verify on an active one. History shows every configuration published on the domain.

Links on a domain that isn’t active yet can be created and saved; they go live once the domain is active.

Remove a domain

Select the domain in the table, then Remove domain at the bottom of the panel and confirm. Links on the hostname stop working, and you can delete the CNAME record afterwards. A domain that still has links can’t be removed: remove its links first. You can add the same domain again later.

Troubleshooting

• “go.yourstore.com doesn’t point at … yet.” The CNAME record isn’t visible. Check the record’s name and target at your DNS provider, make sure there is no other record (A, AAAA or another CNAME) on the same name, then wait a few minutes and select Check now.
• “yourstore.com is a root domain.” Connect a subdomain such as go.yourstore.com and point it at the edge with a CNAME record.
• “Enter just the hostname…” Type the bare name only: go.yourstore.com, not https://go.yourstore.com/.
• “A CAA record on yourstore.com stops the certificate from being issued.” Your domain limits which certificate authorities may issue for it. Allow letsencrypt.org, pki.goog and ssl.com in your CAA records, or remove them.
• The certificate shows “Validation timed out”. Fix the DNS record first, then contact support to restart validation.
• “… stopped pointing at the edge, so Cloudflare paused it.” The CNAME record was changed or removed. Put it back, then contact support to restart validation.
• “… is already connected on this instance, so it can’t be added here.” The hostname is in use in another workspace. Contact support if it’s yours.
• Your domain is on Cloudflare and the domain never becomes active. Make sure the CNAME is set to DNS only (grey cloud), not proxied.
• “Couldn’t reach Cloudflare. Try again in a minute.” A temporary problem on the way to Cloudflare. Nothing was changed; try again.