The Complete Domain & Launch Guide: From Purchase to a Working URL

⬅️ Coming from · The AI Website Workbench

After the AI Website Workbench builds your site, what you get is the platform's default address (like xxxx.web.allincms.com). This guide covers the last step: switching to your own domain so buyers can open your site through it. The AI runs the operations — you just follow the steps and confirm.

🌟 Goal: go from "no domain" to "typing your URL into a browser opens the site, padlock and all". Every timing and conclusion in this guide comes from the workbench's tests on real domains (2026-09-15, one Cloudflare case and one Aliyun case), combined with Cloudflare's official documentation and provider comparisons; a few items are explicitly marked as inference.

Buy a Domain First

If you don't have a domain yet, buy one. For foreign trade with the site hosted overseas, no ICP filing is needed:

Where to buy	Price reference	Real-name required	Payment
Cloudflare	about $10/year	No	PayPal or a foreign-currency card
Aliyun	about ¥85/year	Yes	Alipay works

(Prices are reference values at the time of writing — the registrar's current price wins.)

How to pick a name: the shorter the better, easy to say and remember, and ideally guessable what you sell — a hardware seller might want hardware or tools in the name. Prefer .com. Not sure whether a name is taken? The health check in the next step will tell you.

Step 1: Health Check

Tell the AI your domain (or "I want to buy one but haven't decided") and have it run a pre-bind health check. What it actually runs is the workbench's built-in check command:

python3 sub-libraries/website-content-ops/TOOLS/interface-kit/domain-check.py <site-slug> --check-domain <your-domain>

You don't open a terminal yourself — in your workbench task, just say "check whether this domain can be bound". The result comes back in seconds. Match it to your case:

Check result	Meaning	Next step
❌ Not registered	Nobody has bought it	Buy it per the previous section; the AI guides you
✅ Registered	Normal	Confirm "did you buy it yourself", then bind
⚠️ Expiring soon (within 30 days)	About to stop	Renew first — an expired domain takes your site down
❓ Not found	Possibly a typo	Double-check the spelling
⚠️ Registrar isn't you	Held by a previous provider	Confirm you hold the management rights first

Connect It to the Site

Once the check passes, have the AI bind the domain to the site. It will ask exactly one question: "Did you buy this domain yourself?" — ownership confirmation is a hard requirement so nobody binds someone else's domain.

After binding, the platform assigns your domain a target address (like xxxx.web.allincms.com). Configuring DNS means pointing at it.

💡 By default the AI never touches your DNS console: it doesn't log in or change records — it walks you through each button step by step, then independently verifies the result with its own tools, which beats checking screenshots yourself.

Configure DNS

The plain-language version first: a CNAME record is a "signpost" that tells the internet "looking for this domain? Go find xxxx.web.allincms.com". Your job is to add two signposts at your domain provider: one for www, one for @ (@ means the bare domain without www). Adding the records takes about 3 minutes; DNS propagation usually needs another 1–10 minutes — normal waiting.

Aliyun

Aliyun supports a direct URL that includes your domain — open it in a browser and you land on that domain's DNS settings page (you log in first if needed, then it returns you there):

https://dnsnext.console.aliyun.com/authoritative/domains/<your-domain>

Inside, add two records, four steps each:

1. Click "Add Record";
2. Set the record type to CNAME (the form may default to A — change it);
3. Host record: www; record value: paste the target address the AI gave you;
4. Click "OK" → a "confirm change" dialog appears → click "OK".

Then repeat with the host record set to @.

💡 Have a corporate mailbox on this domain? In the third screenshot the CNAME records and the MX (mail) records coexist, and mail delivery was tested working — but that's Aliyun's special handling, not a DNS-standard guarantee; don't copy it on other providers. For domains where mail matters, confirm mail works before going live; if unsure, configure only www first and let the AI assess before adding @.

Cloudflare

In the Cloudflare dashboard, add one CNAME record for www:

1. Open the DNS records page and click "Add record";
2. ⚠️ The form defaults to type A — switch it to CNAME first;
3. Name: www; target: paste the target address the AI gave you;
4. Keep proxy status at "DNS only" (the grey cloud) — grey means traffic connects directly and the platform can see your CNAME record; orange actually breaks verification.

Once done, the domain should show all green in the platform's "Domains" page:

The Cloudflare Root-Domain Pitfall

Only read this section if your domain is hosted on Cloudflare — Aliyun doesn't have this problem; configure both @ and www directly.

The symptom: www works fine, but the root domain (without www) never verifies on the platform and no certificate is issued.

The cause: Cloudflare force-flattens the root domain's CNAME (converting it into an A record) and this cannot be turned off. From the official documentation:

"CNAME flattening occurs by default for all plans when your domain uses a CNAME record for its zone apex"

"Flatten will not be available: The record is at the zone apex"

The platform verifies by seeing the CNAME record itself; once it's flattened away, verification can never pass.

The standard fix (the AI sets it up for you): make www the primary domain and give the root domain exactly one job — 301-redirect to www. Buyers reach the site either way and notice nothing:

1. Root-domain record: change the type to A with the value 192.0.2.1 (a reserved test address that is never really visited), and turn proxy status orange — orange means traffic passes through Cloudflare first, which the 301 rule requires;
2. Create the redirect rule: dashboard → Rules → Redirect Rules → create: when hostname equals your root domain, 301 to https://www.your-domain.com (preserving the path);
3. Platform side: have the AI set www as the primary domain and unbind the root domain from the platform (it does both; you confirm);
4. Verify: open the root domain in a browser — it should jump to the www address automatically, with the original page path and query preserved (e.g. an "About" page lands on "About").

⚠️ The easiest place to get it wrong: the two records' proxy statuses must be opposite — www grey (the platform must see the CNAME), root domain orange (the 301 rule requires it). Same domain, one grey and one orange — never the same color.

💡 Alternative: migrating DNS from Cloudflare to Aliyun also sidesteps the pitfall, but you must migrate every record including mail — riskier, and the AI generally doesn't recommend it.

Waiting for the Certificate

Once DNS is correct, the platform automatically issues the free SSL certificate (the padlock in your browser's address bar) — there is no "request certificate" button, and you don't need to do anything. In testing it usually takes about 3 minutes.

• The platform says "failed" but the site opens? Don't panic — platform status is sometimes stale; tests have shown the platform reporting failed while the certificate was actually fine. Have the AI refresh the status and check again;
• Genuinely stuck (over an hour): have the AI refresh the platform status first — most "failures" are just platform lag and self-heal after a refresh (tests even showed the platform reporting failed while the certificate was actually fine). Only when the AI confirms three conditions, all required, does the recovery move (unbind and re-bind) come into play: DNS verified and effective, the local certificate check genuinely failing too, and the domain is not the primary one. Re-binding takes the domain down for about 1–4 minutes (about 100 seconds to restore access in testing), and the AI will explain the impact and wait for your approval.

Acceptance

Three checks — all passing means you're live:

1. Open your official URL in a browser: it renders normally and the address bar shows the padlock;
2. Try both with and without www (or confirm the redirect behaves per your setup);
3. Open it on a phone too — that's how most of your buyers will arrive.

Plus one export-site lifeline check: submit a test inquiry on the site's contact page and confirm it reaches your own inbox.

Troubleshooting Quick Table

Symptom	Cause	What to do
Domain won't open (timeout)	CNAME points at a dead address / DNS not effective yet	Have the AI run an inspection to locate it
Platform keeps failing verification	DNS not effective, or the root domain was flattened by Cloudflare	Let the AI diagnose; root domain → the 301 fix above
Certificate keeps failing	CNAME didn't pass verification	Fix DNS first, then have the AI refresh the status
Site opens but styling is broken	Inferred: the orange cloud on www adds a proxy layer (this causal link wasn't verified in testing)	Switch www back to grey (DNS only) first and re-check
Root domain returns error 522	The 301 redirect rule was deleted or the quota is exceeded	Have the AI check the redirect rules
DNS changed but the check says it isn't	Local cache lag	The check uses authoritative DNS; wait a few minutes and re-run
Added the records but still not working	Host names mixed up (@ vs www)	Have the AI verify both records with an inspection
Domain expires in under 30 days	Renewal due	Renew now — an expired domain takes the site down

Boundaries and Limits

Stated honestly so expectations match reality:

• At most 3 domains per site (@ + www + one subdomain — usually enough);
• Expiry is on you: the pre-bind health check also reports how many days remain until registration expiry (within 30 days it advises renewing first), but the routine inspection after binding doesn't watch expiry — keep an eye on renewal yourself;
• The certificate is issued and renewed automatically by the platform; there is no manual request entry point;
• Changing the primary domain is a business decision (it affects where indexing lands) — the AI confirms with you before acting; there is currently no ready-made workflow for swapping domains wholesale, and the old domain's redirects need planning — don't improvise.

📋 Common Mistakes

Mistake	Consequence	How to avoid
🔴 Binding the Cloudflare root domain directly to the platform	After flattening, verification never passes and no certificate is issued	www as primary + root-domain 301, as above
🔴 Orange cloud on the Cloudflare www record	The platform can't see the CNAME; verification fails	Keep www grey (DNS only)
🟡 Form defaults to A and isn't switched to CNAME	Record added with the wrong type; verification fails	Confirm the type is CNAME before adding
🟡 Ignoring an expiring domain	The domain lapses and the site goes down	Renew as soon as the check flags 30 days remaining

✅ Done Check

• The domain is connected; the official URL opens normally in a browser with the padlock;
• Both with-www and without-www verified (or the 301 redirect works);
• Opens normally on a phone;
• A test inquiry was submitted on the contact page and received in your own inbox.

📚 Further Reading

• 📚 AI Website Workbench: the upstream guide — from customer files to a generated site
• 📚 B2B Site SEO from Zero: once the domain works, start content and optimization
• 📚 Out of Ideas? Let AI Tell You What Buyers Want: topic research methods for your content

🚀 Next

A working domain is the passing grade. Use 📄 B2B Site SEO from Zero to start content and optimization so buyers can actually find you.