MotherFluxer Docs

Your App's web address ​

Every App lives at an address. MotherFluxer gives it one automatically, and you can replace the generated name with one you choose, point a domain you already own at it, or buy a domain here. All three are in the App editor's Manage › Publish: press the Live card's status or its Settings icon to open the Live window, where Address and Domain sit side by side. Both are the App owner's — a collaborator doesn't see them.

Change your App's address ​

Every App is given a web address automatically, and the name in it is generated — something like my-notes-4f2a91c3. You can replace that name with one you choose.

  1. In the Live window, find Address.
  2. Type the name you want in the field. The rest of the address stays the same.
  3. As you type, we check whether the name is free — Checking…, then Available, Taken or Reserved. Change appears inside the field once the name is free; press it.

A few things worth knowing:

  • Your old address keeps working. Old links says Still work: anyone who follows a link you shared earlier is sent to the new address automatically, and nobody else can take your old name while your App exists. Earlier lists the addresses your App used before.
  • You can make two address changes every five days, counted across all of your Apps. Changes left shows how many you have, such as "1 of 2", along with the date the next one comes back.
  • Some names are unavailable because we use them ourselves — words like www, admin, or support. A name can use letters, numbers and hyphens only.
  • If your App has never been published, no link to its address exists yet (Old links says None yet · nothing links here), so the name you give up is free for anyone again at once. The change still counts toward your two.

If you delete an App, the names it held return to the pool 30 days later, so a deletion you regret does not immediately hand your address to somebody else.

Connect a custom domain ​

You can put your App on a domain you already own instead — like app.yourdomain.com.

  1. In the Live window, under Domain, press Use my own.
  2. In the Own domain window, type the address you own, then press Connect inside the field.
  3. Under Records, add the two records shown at your domain registrar — a CNAME that points your address at MotherFluxer, and a TXT record that proves the domain is yours. Each has a copy icon. Then press Verify.

Once the TXT record verifies, your domain is reserved for this App. The security certificate is requested automatically the moment your CNAME takes effect (DNS changes can take a few minutes to spread). Until then the domain's status reads Waiting for records or Pending, then Active and Secure once the certificate is issued. You do not need to do anything in between — press the refresh icon to check now, reopen the window, or wait for the hourly check. Your App is then served securely from your own domain.

Current, under Domain in the Live window, always shows which domain your App answers to and its status, or None yet.

If you want to use a bare domain with no www or app in front of it, your DNS provider must support an ALIAS (sometimes called ANAME) record at the root, because a plain CNAME cannot be used there.

While your App is unpublished it takes no domain — unpublishing releases the one it had — so Domain says Publish again first instead of offering Use my own or Buy one, and a domain you bought cannot be pointed at it until you publish again.

Remove a custom domain ​

In the Own domain window, press the bin icon beside the domain's status and confirm Remove domain. The domain stops pointing at your App, your App's own Address keeps working, and you can connect the domain again at any time.

Buy a domain ​

If you do not own a domain yet, you can buy one here. We sell them At cost · no markup, and you are the legal owner — you can move it away at any time.

  1. In the Live window, under Domain, press Buy one.
  2. Type the name you want (myapp, or a full name like myapp.com) and press Check. A name without an ending is checked across the common ones. Checking asks the registrar directly and takes a few seconds.
  3. Each result shows its price per year, or that it is Taken.
  4. Fill in the Contact details the domain registry requires — they are Kept private on the public record. The window says the order: Contact first, then the price.
  5. Press Buy on the name you want. The purchase shows what you get — the domain is Yours, Auto-pointed at your App, set to Auto-renew, with Details private, and you can Move away any time — along with its yearly price, charged to Your credits · at cost. Confirm with Buy.

A domain you buy is pointed at your App automatically and listed under Domain in the Live window.

A bought domain stays connected for as long as it is registered through MotherFluxer — buying it here is what proves it is yours, so we check every day that it still is. If you transfer it to another registrar, or it expires and is released, we disconnect it from your App and email you. To keep using it, connect it again with Use my own; the TXT record proves it is still yours.

Manage a domain you bought ​

A domain you bought belongs to your account, not to one App, so every App's Live window lists it under Domain — Active where it points at this App, Owned where it points elsewhere. Press its Settings icon to open its window:

  • Status — including Registering, Unpointed, Failed, or Expired when something needs your attention.
  • Auto-renew — turn yearly renewal on or off.
  • Transfer lock and Transfer code — to Move away to another registrar, press Unlock, then show or copy the transfer code and give it to your new registrar. You can move away at any time.
  • Point here — point the domain at this App instead. If a purchase went through but pointing it failed, Retry pointing tries again at no extra charge.