Connect a Cloudflare domain to your Artery portfolio

When you connect your own domain, your portfolio site opens at an address like yourname.com instead of yourname.getartery.com. The free getartery.com address keeps working too.

This guide is for a domain whose DNS is managed on Cloudflare: one you registered with Cloudflare, or one you moved to Cloudflare’s nameservers.

Before you start

• Custom domains are part of the Pro plan. Each portfolio can have one custom domain.
• You need access to the Cloudflare account where the domain is set up.
• Decide which address you want: the domain itself (yourname.com) or a subdomain (art.yourname.com). When you connect the domain itself, www.yourname.com is set up too and sends visitors to yourname.com.

The one Cloudflare setting that matters: DNS only

Cloudflare can run each record in one of two modes, shown as a cloud next to the record:

• Proxied (orange cloud): visitors reach Cloudflare, and Cloudflare passes the traffic on.
• DNS only (grey cloud): visitors go straight to the address in the record.

The A and CNAME records for Artery must be DNS only. Artery serves your site from its own servers and gets the secure (https) certificate for your domain itself. To do that, it checks that your domain leads to Artery’s address. When the record is proxied, your domain leads to Cloudflare’s addresses instead, so the check never passes and your domain stays at Waiting for DNS.

With DNS only, Cloudflare’s caching, firewall and SSL/TLS settings do not apply to these records, and you do not need to change any of them. Your site is still served over https, with a certificate Artery manages. TXT records are always DNS only, so there is nothing to set on the TXT record.

1. Add the domain in Artery

1. In your Artery dashboard, open Settings, then the Portfolio tab.
2. Open Custom domain and select Add domain.
3. Type your domain, for example yourname.com, and select Add domain.

Artery now shows the DNS records to add, with a status of Waiting for DNS. Keep this page open: each name and value has a copy button.

For yourname.com, you get three records:

Type	Name	Value	Proxy status
A	@	The IP address Artery shows	DNS only
CNAME	www	domains.getartery.com	DNS only
TXT	_artery-verify	Your verification code, which starts with artery-verify-	(none)

For a subdomain such as art.yourname.com, you get two: a CNAME named art with the value domains.getartery.com (DNS only), and a TXT named _artery-verify.art with your verification code. Use the names Artery shows you.

Always copy the IP address and the code from Artery: the code is unique to your portfolio and your domain.

2. Open the DNS records in Cloudflare

1. Sign in to the Cloudflare dashboard and select your domain.
2. Go to DNS, then Records.

3. Clear the records that are in the way

A name can only point to one place, so look at what is already there for @ (shown as your domain name) and www:

• Delete any other A, AAAA or CNAME record with the same name. These often come from the domain’s earlier host or from Cloudflare copying your old records when you added the domain. A second address sends some visitors somewhere else and can stop the secure certificate for your domain from being issued.
• If an A record for @ or a CNAME for www already exists, you can edit it instead: change its value to the one from Artery and set it to DNS only.

Leave your email records alone: MX records and the TXT records your email provider gave you are not affected.

4. Add the records

Select Add record for each one:

1. A record. Type A, Name @, IPv4 address the IP address from Artery. Turn Proxy status off so it reads DNS only. Leave TTL on Auto. Select Save.
2. CNAME record. Type CNAME, Name www, Target domains.getartery.com. Turn Proxy status off so it reads DNS only. Select Save.
3. TXT record. Type TXT, Name _artery-verify, and paste your verification code into the content field. Select Save.

Type only the part before your domain in Name: Cloudflare adds the domain itself, so _artery-verify becomes _artery-verify.yourname.com.

When you are done, check the records list: the A record and the CNAME record both show a grey cloud and DNS only. If either shows an orange cloud, select Edit on it, switch it to DNS only and save.

5. Wait for the check

Artery checks your domain every five minutes, so you can close the page. Changes on Cloudflare usually show up within minutes. To check right away, open Settings, Portfolio, Custom domain and select Check again.

Each record shows Live once it is found. When the domain is live, Artery sets up the secure (https) certificate for it on its own; there is nothing to buy or install.

If www works before the @ record does, your site opens on www.yourname.com first, and moves to yourname.com as soon as the @ record points to Artery.

If something does not work

• Still Waiting for DNS. First check the clouds: a proxied (orange) A or CNAME record is the most common cause on Cloudflare. Then compare each record with Artery, character by character, and look for a second A, AAAA or CNAME record on the same name.
• Failed. Artery found your verification code before and cannot find it now. Check that the TXT record named _artery-verify is still there with the code Artery shows, then select Check again.
• “This domain is connected to another portfolio”. Add the TXT record the message names, wait a few minutes, then add the domain again in Artery. Whoever controls the domain’s DNS decides which portfolio uses it.
• Cloudflare’s screens look different. Cloudflare changes its dashboard from time to time, and some fields have other names depending on the record type (Content, Target, IPv4 address). The records stay the same: whatever the screen calls it, you need an A record, a CNAME record and a TXT record with the names and values Artery shows, and the A and CNAME records set to DNS only. Cloudflare’s own guides are Create DNS records and Proxy status.

Still stuck? Contact us with your domain name and we will look at it.