Custom Domains and SSL

Every Qik website or web app starts on a free address ending in .sandbox.qik.dev. When you are ready to go live on your own domain (for example www.acme.com), you point the domain at Qik with a couple of DNS records and add an SSL certificate so the site loads securely over HTTPS.

How it fits together

• Application: the deployment of your website. Its Primary Domain Name decides which address the site answers on. See Application Settings.
• DNS records: set up wherever your domain is managed (your registrar or DNS provider). They send visitors who type your domain to Qik's hosting.
• SSL Certificate: a record in Qik that requests an HTTPS certificate for your domain. It is checked using DNS records too, then renews automatically as long as those records stay in place.

Sandbox addresses (something.sandbox.qik.dev) need none of this. Qik manages their DNS and certificate, so they work over HTTPS straight away. They are ideal for staging and preview sites.

Primary and secondary domains

• Primary Domain Name: the one address your site lives at, such as www.acme.com. Enter it without http://, https:// or a trailing slash. Qik strips those out if you paste a full URL.
• Secondary Redirect Domains: other addresses that should send people to the same site, such as acme.com or an old domain. A visitor to a secondary domain is permanently redirected (301) to the same page on the primary domain, so acme.com/about goes to www.acme.com/about.

A domain can only be the primary domain of one application across all of Qik, sandbox addresses included. If you get an error that a domain is already in use and the application using it is yours, change that application's domain or delete it first. That frees the address immediately.

Step 1: Put your domain on the application

1. Go to Apps and open the application under Applications (or create one with New Application → New Website / Web Application).
2. On the Configuration tab, under Domain details, replace the Primary Domain Name with your domain, for example www.acme.com.
3. Add any other addresses under Secondary Redirect Domains, for example acme.com.
4. Save the application.

Tip: Don't move your only application off its sandbox address until DNS and the certificate are ready, or the site will be unreachable in the meantime. Many teams keep a separate staging application on a sandbox address. See Staging, Production and Milestones.

Step 2: Add the DNS records

Once a primary domain is set, the application shows a Custom Domain Details table listing the records to create. For each domain the site answers on (primary and secondary), create two A records at your DNS provider:

Use the values shown in your application's Custom Domain Details table and copy them with the copy buttons. They are Qik's fixed hosting addresses.

• Remove any other A, AAAA or CNAME records for the same name that point somewhere else (for example an old web host). A domain that points partly elsewhere loads inconsistently.
• Most DNS providers want just the subdomain part in the Name field: www for www.acme.com, and @ (or blank) for the bare domain acme.com.
• Use A records rather than a CNAME. The table may suggest a CNAME for a subdomain such as www that points at your bare domain, when both are on the application. That works while the bare domain has the correct A records, but A records on every name are the most reliable setup.
• Never point your domain at app.qik.dev. That is the Qik admin dashboard, so visitors would see the dashboard sign-in screen instead of your site.

DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours to reach everyone, depending on your provider and the old records' time-to-live.

Step 3: Request an SSL certificate

1. Go to Apps → SSL Certificates and create a new certificate.
2. Under Domain Names, add every domain the certificate should secure. We recommend your bare domain plus a wildcard, for example acme.com and *.acme.com. The wildcard covers every subdomain one level down (www.acme.com, shop.acme.com, portal.acme.com), so future sites on the same domain won't need a new certificate.
3. Save. The certificate is requested straight away and shows a status of pending.
4. Open the certificate. The DNS Records table lists one or more CNAME validation records (Name and Value). Click a cell to copy it, then create those CNAME records at your DNS provider.
5. Once the provider sees the validation records, the status changes to success. This usually takes minutes, but can take longer while DNS propagates.

Leave the validation CNAME records in place permanently. The certificate renews automatically, and renewal relies on them.

After the certificate is issued, Qik attaches it to its hosting so your domain serves it. This normally happens automatically within a few minutes. If your site still shows a "connection is not private" warning about 15 minutes after the certificate reads success and your A records are correct, contact support so the certificate can be activated.

Certificate statuses

You can't change a certificate's domain names after you create it. To cover different domains, create a new certificate, and delete the old one once the new one is issued.

Step 4: Force HTTPS

On the application's Configuration tab, under Encryption and Security, turn on Force SSL. Visitors who arrive on http:// are then redirected to https://. Only turn this on once the certificate is working, or visitors will be sent to a page their browser warns about.

Checklist: going live on a custom domain

1. The application has an interface linked, and the version it serves is published. See Staging, Production and Milestones.
2. The primary domain (and any secondary domains) are saved on the application.
3. Both A records exist for every domain, and nothing else points those names elsewhere.
4. An SSL certificate covering every domain shows success, and its validation CNAMEs are still in DNS.
5. Force SSL is on.

Troubleshooting

Permissions

To change an application's domains you need permission to edit that application. SSL Certificates are part of Qik's website and developer tools. If you don't see SSL Certificates under Apps, it may need to be enabled for your organisation (contact support), or your role may not include access to certificates.

FAQs