Publish
Using your own domain
Serve your docs at docs.yourcompany.com, at the root of a domain, or under a /docs path.
Serve your docs at docs.yourcompany.com, at the root of a domain, or under a /docs path.
Every site gets a working address the moment you connect it. A custom domain puts those same
docs on your own brand — docs.acme.com rather than a subdomain of ours.
Go to Settings → Domain and enter the host you want, for example docs.acme.com.
Enter the hostname only — no https://, no trailing path. Papervine cleans up the
obvious variations, but the bare host is what it’s asking for.
The dashboard shows the exact record to create. It’s a CNAME on the subdomain,
pointing at the target shown.
Add it in whatever manages DNS for that domain — your registrar, or a provider like Cloudflare or Route 53.
An apex domain (acme.com, with no subdomain) can’t use a CNAME — that’s a DNS
rule, not a Papervine limitation. Use an A, ALIAS, or ANAME record instead,
depending on what your provider supports.
Papervine watches for the record and issues an HTTPS certificate automatically. The status flips to Connected on its own — no button to press.
DNS changes usually take minutes, occasionally longer depending on your provider’s TTL.
The check behind that Connected badge is deliberately strict: it confirms the certificate issued and that a real request for your domain reaches the right site. A domain that merely resolves isn’t reported as connected, because that’s the state where things look fine and readers still get an error.
/docsThe Host at /docs toggle decides where your docs sit on the domain:
docs.acme.com/quickstart. Use this for a dedicated docs
subdomain.acme.com/docs/quickstart. Use this when the domain already
serves your marketing site and docs are one section of it.Set this at the same time as the domain. Changing it later changes every URL on your site, which breaks inbound links and anything readers have bookmarked.
Certificates are issued and renewed automatically. There’s nothing to buy, upload, or remember to rotate — and no way to be woken up by an expired certificate.
If the domain currently serves docs elsewhere, the cutover is the DNS record: the old host serves until you change it, and Papervine serves once the new record propagates. To keep the gap as short as possible, connect the domain in Papervine first, then change DNS — that way the certificate is ready before traffic arrives.
Removing a custom domain from Settings → Domain returns the site to its default address immediately. Your content is untouched — only the address changes.
Old URLs stop working once DNS no longer points at us, so if the domain was public, plan a redirect from whatever takes it over.
Stuck on pending. The DNS record usually doesn’t match what the dashboard asked for —
a common cause is a record on docs.acme.com.acme.com, which happens when a provider
appends the zone to a name you already typed in full. Check the record’s actual resolved
value.
A certificate error in the browser. Verification hasn’t finished. It resolves on its own once the certificate issues; a hard refresh after a minute usually clears a cached error.
“That host is reserved.” You’ve entered a host Papervine itself serves from. Use a domain you control.
Works for you, not for a colleague. Almost always DNS caching on their side rather than a Papervine problem — it clears with time.