Setting Up a Custom Domain

Connect your own domain to your help center so customers visit your brand URL instead of a helpdeskhero.app address.

How Custom Domains Work

By default, your help center is at helpdeskhero.app/help/your-slug. With a custom domain, you can use something like help.yourcompany.com instead.

Step 1: Add Your Domain

  1. Go to Settings in your dashboard

  2. Find the Custom Domain section

  3. Enter your desired domain (e.g., help.yourcompany.com)

  4. Click Save

Step 2: Configure DNS

Add a CNAME record with your DNS provider pointing to the HelpdeskHero origin:

Type Name Target
CNAME help origin.helpdeskhero.app

If you are using a subdomain like help.yourcompany.com, the Name field would be help. If using a root domain, you may need an ALIAS record instead.

If you are using Cloudflare DNS, make sure the CNAME record is set to DNS only (gray cloud icon), not Proxied. SSL is handled automatically by HelpdeskHero.

Step 3: Add DCV Delegation Record

To enable automated SSL certificate issuance and renewal for your custom domain, you also need to add a second CNAME record for DCV (Domain Control Validation) delegation:

Type Name Target
CNAME _acme-challenge.help.yourcompany.com 83c87f4676a766fa.dcv.cloudflare.com

Replace help.yourcompany.com with your actual custom domain. For example:

  • If your domain is help.acme.com, the Name would be _acme-challenge.help.acme.com
  • If your domain is support.example.org, the Name would be _acme-challenge.support.example.org

This record allows Cloudflare to automatically validate and renew your SSL certificate without any manual intervention.

Both DNS records (the main CNAME and the DCV delegation CNAME) are required for your custom domain to work with HTTPS.

Step 4: Wait for SSL

After saving your domain and updating DNS, HelpdeskHero automatically provisions an SSL certificate through Cloudflare. This usually takes a few minutes.

You can check the status in your Settings page. The domain will show as Active once the certificate is ready.

What Changes

Once your custom domain is active:

  • Your help center is accessible at your custom domain

  • All articles, categories, and search work on the new domain

  • SEO metadata (sitemaps, canonical URLs) automatically updates to use your domain

  • The original helpdeskhero.app/help/your-slug URL continues to work as well

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally, though most updates complete within a few minutes. During propagation, some visitors may not be able to reach your custom domain.

Removing a Custom Domain

To disconnect your custom domain, clear the domain field in Settings and save. Your help center reverts to the default helpdeskhero.app URL. You can also remove the CNAME and DCV delegation records from your DNS provider.

Last updated on March 5, 2026