Hand off your domain

Before you start

First: you might not need this

A domain is the address people type to reach your site — yourbusiness.com. If you already own one, this guide gets it ready to point at your new site. If you don't, nothing here holds up the project: every Railway project comes with a free web address (something like yourbusiness.up.railway.app), and your site can launch there while you decide. A domain can be connected any time, before or after launch.

One honest note before we begin: domains are sold by dozens of companies — GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace, Cloudflare, Hover, IONOS, and plenty more — and every one of them arranges its menus differently. So instead of chasing screenshots of someone else's dashboard, this guide shows you what to find, what to check, and what to send us. Where the buttons live is different for everyone; what they do is the same everywhere.

1. Step 1 · 5 min Find your registrar
2. Step 2 · 5 min Check the account
3. Step 3 · 3 min Send us the details
4. Step 4 · 2 min Choose your route

The registrar is wherever the domain was bought — it's who sends the renewal bill. Sometimes that's obvious. Sometimes the domain was set up years ago by a cousin who "knows computers." Either way, a few minutes of detective work settles it.

1. Search your email inbox for your domain name. Look for messages with words like renewal, receipt, or expiration. The sender is usually your registrar.
2. If nothing turns up, go to lookup.icann.org — the official, free lookup for who manages any domain on the internet.
3. Type your domain into the search box and click Lookup.
4. In the results, find the line labeled Registrar, near the top. That company is who you're looking for.
5. If the registrar's name doesn't ring any bells, ask whoever set up your last website — the domain may live in their account. That's common, and fixable.
6. Write the registrar's name down. You'll send it to us in Step 3.

Launch day goes smoothly when the account behind the domain is in order. None of these checks change anything — you're just making sure the keys work before you need them.

1. Go to your registrar's website and sign in. If you need a password reset by email, do it now — not during launch week.
2. Find your domain inside the account. Look for a section called My Domains, Domain List, or just Domains.
3. Check the expiration date. If it's less than 60 days away, renew it while you're here.
4. Make sure auto-renew is turned on. An expired domain takes the whole site down with it, and getting one back can be slow and expensive.
5. Check that the email address on the account is one you actually read. Renewal and security notices go there.
6. Last, look for a section named DNS, DNS Settings, DNS Management, or Advanced DNS. Don't change anything — just confirm you can see it. That's where launch day happens.

Everything we need to plan the switch fits in one short email. Copy the checklist below, replace the placeholder answers, and send it to hello@admitone.studio — or use the button to open a pre-filled draft.

Domain: yourbusiness.com
Registered with: GoDaddy / Namecheap / Squarespace / not sure
Can I log in today: yes / no / not sure
Auto-renew: on / off / not sure
Renewal date:
How should we make the DNS changes: I'll paste the records / delegate access / screen-share call

When launch day comes, two small entries get added in your registrar's DNS settings. Any of these routes gets them there — tell us your pick in the Step 3 email, and you can change your mind later.

• You paste the records

  We email you the exact entries — copy-paste values and where each one goes in the menus you found in Step 2. About ten minutes in your registrar's DNS settings, with us on standby while you do it.

• You give us temporary access

  Most registrars can grant a helper limited access without ever sharing your password — GoDaddy calls it Delegate Access, Namecheap calls it Share Access, Cloudflare calls it Members. Search your registrar's help pages for "delegate access" or "share access" to find its version. We make the changes, you revoke the access after launch.

• We do it together on a call

  A fifteen-minute screen share: you drive, we navigate. Nobody has to learn what a CNAME record is, and you watch every change as it happens.

All done

Your domain is ready for launch day

We know where the domain lives, the account behind it is healthy, and there's an agreed route for the switch. Here's how the day itself plays out: we send or make the two DNS entries, and the internet takes a little while to notice — usually minutes, occasionally up to a day or two for stragglers. Your site stays reachable at its Railway address throughout, and email on the domain isn't touched.

• 1Registrar found and written downComplete
• 2Login, renewal, and contact email checkedComplete
• 3Details emailed to Admit OneComplete
• 4DNS route chosenComplete