Blog · Updated 19 September 2026

Lovable custom domain not working? Seven causes and how to fix each

Quick answer. Nine times out of ten it is one of three things: the DNS records have not spread yet (wait up to a day), an old record from your registrar's parking page conflicts with the new one (delete it), or only one of the two records was added, so www works and the bare domain does not, or the other way round.

What should I check, in order?

  1. Wait. DNS changes usually show within an hour but can take up to a day. Check with a DNS lookup tool rather than refreshing your browser, which caches old answers.
  2. Conflicting records. Registrars add parking records by default. There must be only one A record for @ and only one CNAME for www. Delete extras, including any AAAA record for @.
  3. Both records present. You need the A record for the bare domain and the CNAME for www. Missing one explains why only half works.
  4. Typos and trailing text. The host field should be @ or www, not the full domain. Some registrars add the domain for you, which produces www.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com.
  5. Nameservers elsewhere. If your domain uses another company's nameservers, for example Cloudflare, records you add at the registrar do nothing. Add them where the nameservers point.
  6. Cloudflare proxy. If you use Cloudflare, switch the records to DNS only (grey cloud) while the certificate is being issued.
  7. SSL still pending. Certificates are issued after DNS is correct, usually within minutes. If it has been hours, a CAA record that forbids the certificate authority may be the cause.

Which values should the records have?

Use the values shown by whoever hosts the site. Inside Lovable they are in the project's domain settings. For a site hosted on Lovely Hosting they are an A record for @ pointing to 76.76.21.21 and a CNAME for www pointing to cname.vercel-dns.com. Step by step screens for the big registrars are in connecting a Namecheap, GoDaddy or Squarespace domain.

Is there a way to avoid DNS entirely?

Yes: buy the domain from the same place that hosts the site, so the records are created for you. On Lovely Hosting you search for a domain during checkout, it is registered in your name at cost, and it is connected automatically with nothing to type. Lovely Hosting does this for you: drop the zip from Lovable's Download codebase button, pick a domain and pay $9.00 a month.

Try it free

Drop the zip from Lovable's Download codebase button. It is in your Downloads folder. No account, no card, online in about a minute.

Drop your Lovable zip hereIt is in your Downloads folder. Or click to choose it.

Common questions

How long should I wait before assuming something is wrong?

An hour for most changes. If a DNS lookup tool still shows the old values after 24 hours, the records are wrong or in the wrong place.

Why does my domain work on my phone but not my laptop?

Caching. Devices and networks remember old DNS answers for a while. It resolves itself, or you can flush the DNS cache and restart the browser.

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