How do you connect a custom domain to Shopify?

Short answer: go to Settings, then Domains in your Shopify admin, click "Connect existing domain," and either let Shopify configure it automatically (for supported registrars like GoDaddy or Namecheap) or add two DNS records yourself. The work takes minutes. Waiting for the internet to catch up takes up to 48 hours.

Every Shopify store starts life with an address like your-store.myshopify.com. It works fine. It also looks like a store that might disappear tomorrow. A custom domain — yourstore.com — is one of the cheapest trust signals in e-commerce, and connecting one is less technical than it sounds. There are two paths: automatic, where Shopify does the DNS work for you, and manual, where you change two records yourself.

Before you start: what you need

You need three things, and you probably have two of them already.

First, a registered domain from somewhere — GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, or any registrar. If you don't have one yet, you can also buy directly through Shopify, which skips this entire article: Shopify configures everything itself and the domain just appears. Buying through Shopify is the simplest path, full stop. This article is for everyone who already owns a domain elsewhere or prefers their registrar.

Second, access to both your Shopify admin and your registrar account. You will be switching between the two. Have both logins ready before you begin — nothing kills momentum like a password reset in the middle of DNS changes.

Third, about ten minutes of attention. The actual work is short. The waiting afterward is long, and confusing the two is the source of most domain anxiety.

The automatic way: let Shopify do it

If your domain is with a supported registrar — GoDaddy, Namecheap, and IONOS are the big ones — Shopify can configure everything itself. This is the path to try first.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Domains. Click "Connect existing domain." Type your domain name — without the www, just yourstore.com — and click Next. Choose "Connect automatically." Shopify will ask you to log in to your registrar account and grant it permission to manage the DNS settings. Approve it.

That is the whole procedure. Shopify adds the records it needs, verifies the connection, and your domain appears under third-party domains as Connected. You did not touch a DNS record. You did not need to know what a DNS record is.

One caution: granting Shopify access to your registrar is convenient, which is exactly why you should make sure you are on the real Shopify admin page and the real registrar login when you do it. Convenience and phishing love the same doors.

The manual way: two DNS records

If your registrar does not support automatic connection, or you just prefer to keep your hands on the controls, the manual path requires exactly two DNS changes. This sounds technical. It is really just filling in two rows of a form.

Log in to your registrar and find the DNS settings — it may be labeled DNS Management, DNS Records, or Zone File Settings. You are going to set two records:

The A record (for your root domain, the host labeled @): point it to Shopify's IP address. Shopify shows you the exact IP address on the connect screen in your admin — use the number it displays, not one you find in an old tutorial, because these things occasionally change.

The www CNAME record: point the host www to shops.myshopify.com. This is the address Shopify has used for years and it is the same for every store.

Save the changes. Then go back to Shopify admin, Settings, Domains, "Connect existing domain," enter your domain, and click Connect. Shopify will verify the records — this can take minutes or hours.

The critical detail: there must be exactly one A record and one www CNAME. If your domain previously pointed at another website, there may be leftover records from the old host. Delete them. Do not leave them sitting beside Shopify's records. Two A records means traffic splits unpredictably between two servers, and your store will work for some visitors and not others — the most maddening kind of broken.

Set it as your primary domain

Once Shopify verifies the connection, you are not quite done. In Settings, Domains, find your new domain and set it as the primary domain. This is the address customers will see.

Your old myshopify.com address does not go away — it redirects to the primary domain automatically. That is what you want. Every old link, every bookmark, every half-remembered URL still lands on your store, just wearing the new address. Do not try to delete or hide the myshopify.com address. It is the foundation the custom domain stands on.

While you are here, check that Shopify has issued an SSL certificate for the domain. It does this automatically and it is what puts the padlock in the browser bar. If the certificate is still pending, wait — it usually resolves within a day. A store without the padlock is a store most customers will not buy from.

Don't lose your email in the move

Here is the mistake that causes the most quiet damage: changing DNS records can break your email.

If your domain currently handles email — you@yourstore.com through Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or your registrar's email — those MX records live in the same DNS zone you are editing. The A and CNAME changes for Shopify do not touch MX records, so in theory email keeps working. In practice, people bulk-delete "old records" during cleanup and take the MX records with them, and then discover three days later that they have not received an order notification since Tuesday.

Before you touch anything, note which email-related records exist (MX, and usually some TXT records for SPF/DKIM). Touch only the A record and the www CNAME. If you are unsure what a record does, leave it alone. Email going dark during launch week is a self-inflicted wound.

The waiting: DNS propagation

After everything is configured, there is a waiting period, and this is where most people panic unnecessarily.

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate across the internet, though in practice most connections verify within a few hours. During that window, your domain may work for you but not for your friend, work on your phone but not your laptop, or show the old site to half the world. This is normal. It is not broken. It is the internet's phone book updating at different speeds in different places.

Do not keep changing settings during propagation. Every change restarts the clock. Set it once, correctly, and walk away. Check back in a few hours. If it has been a full 48 hours and Shopify still shows the domain as unverified, then — and only then — start troubleshooting.

Common problems and what they mean

A few failure modes cover nearly every stuck domain.

"Domain is already connected to another Shopify store." This happens when the domain was previously attached to a different store — maybe your own old one, maybe a previous owner's. Shopify lets you verify ownership and transfer the connection through the Domains page. It is a clean process, just an annoying one.

Nameserver mismatch. If your domain uses custom nameservers — pointing at Cloudflare, for example — the DNS records you edit at your registrar may not be the ones the internet actually reads. Either switch back to your registrar's default nameservers or make the same A and CNAME changes at whichever service actually hosts your DNS.

Leftover records, again. It is worth repeating because it is the most common cause of weird behavior: one stray A record from a previous host, and half your visitors go to a dead site. When in doubt, the domain's DNS should contain exactly the records Shopify needs and nothing else pointing at web traffic.

The www version works but the root doesn't, or vice versa. This almost always means one of the two records is wrong or missing. Check both. The A record handles yourstore.com; the CNAME handles www.yourstore.com. You need both.

If you'd rather skip all of this: buy through Shopify

It is worth saying plainly, because the manual path exists mostly for people who already own a domain somewhere else. If you have not bought your domain yet, buying it directly through Shopify — Settings, Domains, "Buy new domain" — removes every step above. Shopify registers it, configures the DNS, issues the SSL certificate, and handles renewal. You pay a yearly fee comparable to any registrar, and the domain simply works.

The tradeoff is flexibility. A domain bought through Shopify is easy to manage but harder to move if you ever leave the platform, and you get fewer advanced DNS options than a dedicated registrar like Cloudflare offers. For a first store, that tradeoff is usually worth it. You can always transfer the domain to another registrar later, once you know what you actually need.

Connecting a custom domain is one of those tasks that feels technical from the outside and turns out to be data entry on the inside. Ten minutes of careful work, one rule about not deleting things you don't understand, and the patience to let the internet catch up. Your store looks established, your links look professional, and every future marketing effort points at an address you own. For ten minutes, that is a very good trade.