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Account & Compliance

Custom Domains

Replace your default Kit URLs with your own branded domain for your admin dashboard or career portal.

Why It Matters

Your Kit account comes with default URLs based on your subdomain — but sharing startupkit.app/careers/your-company or your-company.startupkit.app doesn’t feel like your brand. Custom domains let you replace these with your own domain (like kit.yourcompany.com or careers.yourcompany.com), giving candidates and team members a professional, on-brand experience.

What You Can Brand

Kit supports two types of custom domains, each replacing a different part of your account:

Domain Type Replaces Example
Admin Dashboard your-company.startupkit.app kit.yourcompany.com
Career Portal startupkit.app/careers/your-company careers.yourcompany.com

You can set up one of each — an admin domain and a career domain — on the same account.

Requirements

Before adding a custom domain, make sure you have:

  • An active paid subscription on your account
  • Account admin role (non-admins won’t see the Custom Domains settings)
  • A domain you control with access to its DNS settings

Adding a Custom Domain

  1. Open Account Settings in the sidebar
  2. Click Custom Domains
  3. Click Add Domain
  4. Choose a domain type — Admin Portal or Career Portal
  5. Enter your domain (e.g. kit.yourcompany.com)
  6. Click Add Domain to save

Kit registers the domain and redirects you to the domain detail page with DNS setup instructions.

We recommend using a subdomain (like kit.yourcompany.com) rather than a root domain (yourcompany.com). Subdomains work with any DNS provider and are simpler to configure.

Configuring DNS

After adding your domain, you need to create a DNS record at your domain provider pointing to Kit.

For Subdomains (Recommended)

Type Name Target
CNAME Your subdomain (e.g. kit) startupkit.app

CNAME records work with every DNS provider.

For Root/Apex Domains

Type Name Target
ALIAS or ANAME @ startupkit.app

Root domains cannot use CNAME records due to DNS standards. You’ll need a provider that supports ALIAS or ANAME records (such as Cloudflare, DNSimple, or DNS Made Easy). Most basic registrars do not support this — if yours doesn’t, use a subdomain instead.

DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours to propagate, depending on your provider and existing TTL settings.

Verification and SSL

Once your DNS record is in place, Kit automatically handles verification and SSL certificate provisioning. The process follows three steps:

  1. Domain Added — Your domain is registered and waiting for DNS configuration
  2. DNS Configured — Kit detects your DNS record and begins SSL provisioning
  3. SSL Active — A certificate is issued and your domain is live with HTTPS

This typically completes within a few minutes of adding the DNS record. You can check progress at any time by visiting the domain detail page and clicking Check Status.

Kit uses automatic DV (Domain Validated) certificates that renew every 90 days — no manual certificate management required.

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
Status stuck on “DNS Required” DNS changes may not have propagated yet — wait up to 48 hours, then click Check Status
Root domain not verifying Confirm your DNS provider supports ALIAS or ANAME records; if not, switch to a subdomain
SSL error after DNS is correct Click Check Status to retry SSL provisioning; if the error persists, remove and re-add the domain
“Domain is reserved” error Kit’s own system domains (e.g. startupkit.app, www.startupkit.app) cannot be used as custom domains
Domain shows as “Error” Check the error details on the domain page — common causes include conflicting DNS records or provider-level blocks

Removing a Domain

To remove a custom domain:

  1. Go to Account Settings > Custom Domains
  2. Click on the domain you want to remove
  3. Click Remove Domain and confirm

Removing a domain cleans up the SSL certificate and DNS configuration on Kit’s side. Your account reverts to the default Kit URL immediately. You should also remove the DNS record at your provider to keep your DNS tidy.

Quick Checklist

  • You have an active paid subscription
  • You are an account administrator
  • You’ve chosen a domain type (Admin Portal or Career Portal)
  • You’ve entered your domain in Account Settings > Custom Domains
  • You’ve added the correct DNS record (CNAME for subdomains, ALIAS/ANAME for root domains)
  • DNS has propagated and Kit shows the domain as “Active”
  • You’ve verified your site loads correctly on the new domain with HTTPS

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