Put your guide on your own domain

Serve a guide from a subdomain your company owns, like help.acme.com or docs.acme.com. You add one DNS record, or approve it in one click with a supported DNS provider; the HTTPS certificate is issued and renewed for you. It's free on every guide, and the free <address>.guides.markdrop.in address keeps working beside it.

Only Guides admins add and remove domains, and a guide can have two. Everyone else sees them in Settings › Domains.

Domains lists every address the guide answers at, each with its status, Copy, Open (in a new tab) and a menu with its setup steps, Check now and Remove domain.

This is separate from a Markdrop workspace's own domain, which serves the workspace's documents and files, not its guides.

Setup takes three steps: Your domain, Connect DNS, Live with HTTPS.

1. 1

   Type the subdomain

   #Copy sectionAsk about this

   In the guide's Settings › Domains, choose Add a domain, type the subdomain (for example help.acme.com) and choose Continue.

   

2. 2

   Connect DNS

   #Copy sectionAsk about this

   Markdrop looks up who runs the domain's DNS from its nameservers and says so, like "acme.com's DNS is at Cloudflare", with Open Cloudflare DNS. The record is written the way that provider's form asks for it, with copy buttons:

   Type	Name	Value
   CNAME	help	cname.guides.markdrop.in

   Where the provider supports it, Connect with your provider (Connect with Cloudflare, say) adds the record in one click: sign in there and approve it. Markdrop asks for that one record and nothing else.

   Otherwise, sign in where your domain's DNS is managed (often where you bought it) and add the CNAME record yourself (see Where to add the record). Download as CSV gives you the record as a file.

   

3. 3

   Wait for it to go live

   #Copy sectionAsk about this

   Status shows Record found, HTTPS certificate issued and Live, and checks again every minute while the page is open, usually a few minutes after your DNS change is visible. Choose Check now to check right away. You can leave the page: Markdrop keeps checking, and emails you when the domain is live (or if it gives up).

Once it's Live, readers get the guide at https://help.acme.com. Markdrop publishes the live version again, so links, the sitemap, llms.txt and preview cards use your domain from then on. Keep the record in place.

Under Someone else runs your DNS?, send the person who does a message with the record, where to add it, and a link to check it worked: Copy message, Send by email (opens your mail app), or Copy a link to these steps. The link opens a public page, markdrop.in/d/check/help.acme.com, that shows the record to add and how far along the domain is, and checks again on its own. It says nothing about your guide.

Two more records, Ownership record and Certificate record (both TXT), may show under the CNAME. You only need them when your domain sits behind another proxy or CDN, or if you want it checked before you switch the CNAME over from another service.

A root domain like acme.com can't be added yet: DNS doesn't allow a CNAME record at the root, and Markdrop doesn't offer fixed IP addresses for an A record. Use a subdomain such as help.acme.com or docs.acme.com, and if you want, redirect the root to it at your DNS provider.

In its menu, choose Remove domain and confirm. The guide stops answering there right away; links, the sitemap and search results go back to the free address after the publish Markdrop starts for you. You can then delete the CNAME record.

• It stays on Record found: waiting. The CNAME record isn't visible yet. If the status says the name points somewhere else, an old record is still in place. Check its name and value for typos, and that the name doesn't end up doubled (help.acme.com.acme.com) because your provider added the domain for you. DNS changes can take up to an hour, sometimes longer. Then choose Check now.
• There's already a record for that name. A subdomain can have only one CNAME, and no CNAME beside other records of the same name. Delete the old record first.
• It's on Cloudflare with the orange cloud. Set the record to DNS only, or add the Ownership record and Certificate record too.
• It stays on HTTPS certificate. A CAA record on your domain may allow only other certificate authorities. Remove it, or add one that allows letsencrypt.org and pki.goog.
• It says Problem. Markdrop checks for 3 days, then stops, shows what was in the way and emails whoever added the domain. Fix the record, then choose Check now to start again.
• "Another guide already uses that domain." A domain can serve one guide. Remove it from the other guide first.

• Guide settings: the free address, who can read the guide, and its other settings.
• Private pages and sections: pages for some readers only, on every address the guide has.
• What readers get: what every address serves, for people and AI tools.