What is a Domain and DNS? What to Do After Buying a Domain

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Author: Danko Peng (@dankopeng)
Updated: March 2026
Reading time: ~7 minutes

You Bought a Domain. Now What?

A lot of people buy a domain and then don’t know what to do next.

The domain is ready, the app is deployed, but the two aren’t connected — visiting the domain shows a blank page or “site not found.”

This tutorial explains the relationship between domains and DNS, and walks through exactly how to point your domain to Cloudflare Workers.

What is a Domain?

A domain is your app’s address — something like vibefast.app.

Your app actually runs at an IP address, like 104.21.45.123. But nobody wants to memorize numbers, so domains exist — a memorable name that maps to a numeric address.

Domains are purchased from domain registrars (Namecheap, GoDaddy, and Cloudflare Registrar all work). .app, .com, .io are different top-level domains (TLDs) with slightly different pricing and use cases.

What is DNS?

DNS (Domain Name System) is the system that translates domain names into IP addresses.

Think of it as a phone book:

vibefast.app → 104.21.45.123
google.com → 142.250.80.46

When someone types vibefast.app into a browser, here’s what happens:

1. Browser asks DNS: what's the IP address for vibefast.app?
2. DNS looks it up and replies: 104.21.45.123
3. Browser connects to that IP and loads the site

The whole process happens in milliseconds — you never notice it.

Types of DNS Records

When configuring DNS, you’ll see several record types:

Record Type	Purpose	Example
`A`	Points a domain to an IP address	`vibefast.app → 104.21.45.123`
`CNAME`	Points a domain to another domain	`www.vibefast.app → vibefast.app`
`MX`	Mail server configuration	Routes email to `@vibefast.app`
`TXT`	Verification purposes	Proves domain ownership to Google, Stripe, etc.

Connecting Your Domain to Cloudflare Workers

The setup has two parts: first, move your domain’s DNS management to Cloudflare; second, bind your custom domain inside Workers.

Step 1: Move DNS Management to Cloudflare (Recommended)

If you bought your domain through Cloudflare Registrar, DNS is already managed by Cloudflare — skip to Step 2.

If your domain is registered elsewhere (Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc.):

Log into Cloudflare Dashboard and click “Add a domain”
Enter your domain name and select the free plan
Cloudflare automatically scans and imports your existing DNS records — verify nothing is missing
Cloudflare gives you two Nameserver addresses, for example:
```
aria.ns.cloudflare.com
bob.ns.cloudflare.com
```
Go to your domain registrar and replace the current Nameservers with these two
Wait for propagation — usually a few minutes to a few hours, up to 48 hours maximum

Once it takes effect, all your DNS settings live inside Cloudflare alongside your Workers, D1, and R2.

Step 2: Set a Custom Domain in Workers

After DNS is managed by Cloudflare, go into your Worker’s settings to bind the domain:

Log into Cloudflare Dashboard
Click “Workers & Pages” in the left sidebar
Click your frontend Worker (in vibefast.app, this is the web worker, not the API worker)
Go to “Settings” → “Domains & Routes”
Click “Add” → “Custom Domain”
Select your domain from the dropdown — it will list domains already registered in your Cloudflare account
Click “Add Custom Domain”

Note: your domain must already be in your Cloudflare account (i.e. Step 1 is complete) before it appears in the dropdown.

Cloudflare automatically:

Adds the corresponding DNS record
Requests and configures an SSL certificate
Routes traffic for that domain to your Worker

A few minutes later, open a browser, type your domain, and your app loads.

How to Verify the Setup

bash

# Check DNS records for your domain
nslookup vibefast.app

# Or use dig
dig vibefast.app

# Confirm HTTPS certificate
curl -I https://vibefast.app

If you see the correct IP or CNAME in the output, DNS has propagated successfully.

Common Questions

Q: How long does DNS propagation take?

In theory up to 48 hours, but in practice usually a few minutes to a few hours. If it’s been more than 2 hours with no change, double-check that all records are filled in correctly.

Q: Do I need to configure www.vibefast.app and vibefast.app separately?

Yes. You need to configure each separately:

vibefast.app (the apex/root domain)
www.vibefast.app (the www subdomain)

Typically you’d point both to Workers, or point www to the apex domain with a CNAME, and set up a redirect so users always land on one canonical version.

Q: Do I need to get an SSL certificate myself?

No. Once your domain points to Cloudflare, SSL certificates are automatically provisioned and renewed. Your app automatically supports HTTPS — nothing to configure.

Danko Peng
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What is a Domain and DNS? What to Do After Buying a Domain ​

You Bought a Domain. Now What? ​

What is a Domain? ​

What is DNS? ​

Types of DNS Records ​

Connecting Your Domain to Cloudflare Workers ​

Step 1: Move DNS Management to Cloudflare (Recommended) ​

Step 2: Set a Custom Domain in Workers ​

How to Verify the Setup ​

Common Questions ​