How to Set Up a Custom Domain for Your OpenClaw Instance

Running OpenClaw at ai.yourcompany.com or agent.yourname.com adds a professional touch and makes the endpoint memorable. This guide covers custom domain setup for both nacre.sh managed instances and self-hosted deployments.

nacre.sh Custom Domain Setup

nacre.sh supports custom domains on Team, Agency, and Scale plans.

1. In your nacre.sh dashboard, go to Instance > Settings > Custom Domain
2. Enter your desired domain (e.g., agent.yourcompany.com)
3. nacre.sh provides a CNAME target like instance-xyz.nacre.sh
4. In your DNS provider, add a CNAME record:
   • Name: agent (or whatever subdomain you want)
   • Value: instance-xyz.nacre.sh
   • TTL: 300 (5 minutes for initial testing)
5. Click Verify Domain in nacre.sh
6. TLS is provisioned automatically via Let's Encrypt — typically within 2 minutes

Self-Hosted Custom Domain Setup

Prerequisites

• Domain registered at any registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.)
• OpenClaw running on a VPS with a public IP
• Nginx or Caddy as your reverse proxy

DNS Configuration

In your DNS provider, add an A record:

• Name: @ for root domain or subdomain like agent
• Value: Your VPS IP address
• TTL: 300 initially, increase to 3600 after confirming it works

Caddy (Simplest — Automatic TLS)

agent.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Restart Caddy — TLS is handled automatically. Nothing else required.

Nginx + Certbot

# Obtain certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d agent.yourdomain.com

# Nginx config created automatically by certbot
# Restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Cloudflare Proxy (Optional)

If your domain is managed by Cloudflare, you can proxy traffic through their network for DDoS protection and caching:

1. Set your DNS record to Proxied (orange cloud) in Cloudflare
2. In Cloudflare SSL/TLS, set mode to Full (Strict)
3. Your origin server still needs a valid TLS certificate

Benefits: Cloudflare hides your VPS IP, adds DDoS protection, and provides a global CDN layer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a root domain (yourdomain.com) rather than a subdomain?

Yes for Cloudflare (using CNAME flattening) and for most DNS providers that support ALIAS/ANAME records. Standard CNAME records don't work at the root — use an A record pointing to your IP instead.

How long does DNS propagation take?

With TTL of 300 (5 minutes), most regions see the change within 5–15 minutes. Global propagation completes within 24 hours in rare cases.