How to set up a custom domain on lykhari

By default, your blog lives at yourname.lykhari.com. That works fine, but if you want your own address, like yourname.com, you can connect a custom domain instead. This is a pro feature, and once it's set up, lykhari takes care of the security certificate (the padlock in the browser) for you automatically. You don't touch that part.

Here's the whole process from zero, assuming you've never bought a domain before.

Step 1: buy a domain from a registrar

A registrar is just a company that sells domain names and lets you manage them. You don't need to buy one from lykhari, you buy it from any registrar you like, and then point it at lykhari yourself. A domain usually costs somewhere between $10 and $20 a year, depending on the ending (.com, .blog, .xyz, and so on).

Some popular registrars, in no particular order: Namecheap, Porkbun, Cloudflare Registrar, GoDaddy, and Squarespace Domains. Any of them work fine for this. Pick one, search for the domain name you want, and buy it.

Step 2: find your registrar's DNS settings

Once you own the domain, you need to go into its DNS settings. DNS is essentially the internet's address book, it's what translates a domain name like yourname.com into the actual server that should answer when someone visits it. Every registrar has a page for this, usually called something like "DNS," "DNS Settings," "Manage DNS," or "Advanced DNS." It's inside your registrar's dashboard, under the domain you just bought.

Step 3: add an A record pointing to lykhari

Inside DNS settings, you'll add what's called an A record. An A record is one line that says "this domain points to this address." You'll fill in:

  • Type: A
  • Host / Name: @ if you want yourdomain.com itself, or a word like blog if you want a subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com
  • Value / Points to / Answer: 178.156.128.50
  • TTL: leave it on the default, it doesn't matter here

Save that record.

Step 4: wait for it to update

DNS changes aren't instant. Usually it takes a few minutes, sometimes up to a couple of hours. This is normal, there's nothing broken, it just takes time to spread across the internet.

Step 5: add the domain in lykhari

Go to your lykhari dashboard, then Settings, and find the "custom domain" field. Type in exactly the domain you set up (yourdomain.com or blog.yourdomain.com, matching whatever you chose in step 3) and save. lykhari checks that the domain is actually pointing at it before accepting it, so if you just did step 3, this might fail the first time. If that happens, wait a bit longer for DNS to catch up and try saving again. Once it takes, your blog is live on your own domain, HTTPS included, nothing else to configure.

DNS steps for 5 popular providers

The general shape is always the same (add an A record, host @, pointing to 178.156.128.50), but here's where to find that screen on each one. Interfaces change occasionally, so if a label doesn't match exactly, look for "DNS" or "Advanced DNS" in the domain's settings.

Namecheap

  1. Sign in, go to Domain List, click "Manage" next to your domain
  2. Open the "Advanced DNS" tab
  3. Under "Host Records," click "Add New Record"
  4. Type: A Record, Host: @, Value: 178.156.128.50, TTL: Automatic
  5. Click the checkmark to save

GoDaddy

  1. Sign in, go to My Products, find your domain, click "DNS"
  2. Under "Records," click "Add" (or edit the existing A record if one's already there)
  3. Type: A, Name: @, Value: 178.156.128.50, TTL: default
  4. Save

Cloudflare

  1. Sign in, select your domain, go to the "DNS" tab, then "Records"
  2. Click "Add record"
  3. Type: A, Name: @, IPv4 address: 178.156.128.50
  4. Important: click the orange cloud icon next to the record so it turns gray ("DNS only"). Leaving it orange routes traffic through Cloudflare's proxy first, which can conflict with lykhari's own certificate setup. Gray keeps it simple.
  5. Save

Squarespace Domains (formerly Google Domains)

  1. Sign in to Squarespace, go to Domains, select your domain
  2. Open DNS Settings
  3. Add a custom record: Type: A, Host: @, Data: 178.156.128.50, TTL: default
  4. Save

Porkbun

  1. Sign in, click the DNS icon (looks like a small gear or globe) next to your domain
  2. Click "Add" under DNS Records
  3. Type: A, Host: leave blank for the root domain, Answer: 178.156.128.50, TTL: default
  4. Save

A few things that trip people up

  • If you want blog.yourdomain.com instead of yourdomain.com, use that as the Host in step 3 and enter the full blog.yourdomain.com in lykhari's settings, not just yourdomain.com.
  • Double check you added an A record, not a CNAME. They look similar but do different things.
  • If lykhari says the domain isn't pointing correctly yet, it's almost always just DNS still catching up. Give it another 15 to 30 minutes and try again.
  • If your domain already has a website somewhere else and you're not ready to move it, use a subdomain (blog.yourdomain.com) instead of the root, so you don't overwrite what's already there.

That's it. One record, one field in lykhari, and your blog has its own address.