Step 1: Purchase a domain
Once you have your domain name picked out, you must purchase your custom domain name from a domain provider. A domain provider is a company that manages selling available domain names.
Hover is our preferred partner and recommended domain provider to register and manage your domain with. Their clear interface, reliable uptime, and responsive support help you get your custom domain live quickly, without extra clutter or hidden fees.
Get a custom .com domain name from Hover at 50% off until Dec. 31, 2025.
We also support other providers. You just need to choose one that’s accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Step 2: Go to Contra
You can access your custom domain settings via your custom portfolio, or by going to Settings > Domains > "Connect Domain".
Step 3: Enter your domain
Enter the unique domain you've purchased from your chosen provider.
Step 4: Select your domain provider
Now, select your registrar's name. You’ll see a dropdown menu of common registrars. If you purchased your domain outside of those five registrars, click Other.
Step 5: Connect your domain to Contra
This should automatically populate with the information you need to copy into your domain registrar. Copy and paste your hostname, record type, and value into your registrar. Once you’ve done that, check the box that confirms you’ve copied your record type into your registrar. Hit the Connect Domain button.
Step 6: Check your status
You’ll see one of two statuses for your custom portfolio domain: Not Connected or Connected. Click the Check Status button to be up to date on your status.
Not Connected: It can take a few minutes for your domain to connect to your portfolio. It shouldn’t take longer than five minutes for the domain to connect.
Connected: Yay! Your domain has been officially connected. Check it out and share it with the world!
If you’re having issues connecting your custom domain, please visit your domain provider’s troubleshooting guidelines for more information before contacting Contra for support.
Additional Tips for Troubleshooting:
Allow some time before checking back, changes to DNS records can take a couple of hours to propagate to all DNS servers.
Check your DNS settings to ensure that only one record points to the domain.
Remove any SSL certificates. Contra provides this for you! Once deleted, revert to the previous setting (DNS only).
Remove any AAAA records to prevent conflicts with Contra's SSL certificates
Flush the DNS cache on your system – we recommend the following the steps in this resource here.