People with admin permissions for a repository can configure a custom domain for a GitHub Pages site.
About custom domain configuration
Tip
We recommend verifying your custom domain prior to adding it to your repository, in order to improve security and avoid takeover attacks. For more information, see "Verifying your custom domain for GitHub Pages."
Make sure you add your custom domain to your GitHub Pages site before configuring your custom domain with your DNS provider. Configuring your custom domain with your DNS provider without adding your custom domain to GitHub could result in someone else being able to host a site on one of your subdomains.
The dig
command, which can be used to verify correct configuration of DNS records, is not included in Windows. To verify that your DNS records are configured correctly, you can use the Resolve-DnsName
PowerShell command or install BIND.
Note
DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate.
Configuring an apex domain
To set up an apex domain, such as example.com
, you must configure a custom domain in your repository settings and at least one ALIAS
, ANAME
, or A
record with your DNS provider.
-
On GitHub, navigate to your site's repository.
-
Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.
-
In the "Code and automation" section of the sidebar, click Pages.
-
Under "Custom domain", type your custom domain, then click Save. If you are publishing your site from a branch, this will create a commit that adds a
CNAME
file directly to the root of your source branch. If you are publishing your site with a custom GitHub Actions workflow, noCNAME
file is created, so you need to create one manually (containing only a line of text with your custom domain). For more information about your publishing source, see Configuring a publishing source for your GitHub Pages site. -
Navigate to your DNS provider and create either an
ALIAS
,ANAME
, orA
record. You can also createAAAA
records for IPv6 support. If you're implementing IPv6 support, we highly recommend using anA
record in addition to yourAAAA
record, due to slow adoption of IPv6 globally. For more information about how to create the correct record, see your DNS provider's documentation.-
To create an
ALIAS
orANAME
record, point your apex domain to the default domain for your site. For more information about the default domain for your site, see "About GitHub Pages." -
To create
A
records, point your apex domain to the IP addresses for GitHub Pages.185.199.108.153 185.199.109.153 185.199.110.153 185.199.111.153
-
To create
AAAA
records, point your apex domain to the IP addresses for GitHub Pages.2606:50c0:8000::153 2606:50c0:8001::153 2606:50c0:8002::153 2606:50c0:8003::153
Warning
We strongly recommend that you do not use wildcard DNS records, such as
*.example.com
. These records put you at an immediate risk of domain takeovers, even if you verify the domain. For example, if you verifyexample.com
this prevents someone from usinga.example.com
but they could still take overb.a.example.com
(which is covered by the wildcard DNS record). For more information, see "Verifying your custom domain for GitHub Pages." -
-
Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.
-
To confirm that your DNS record configured correctly, use the
dig
command, replacing EXAMPLE.COM with your apex domain. Confirm that the results match the IP addresses for GitHub Pages above.-
For
A
records:$ dig EXAMPLE.COM +noall +answer -t A > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN A 185.199.108.153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN A 185.199.109.153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN A 185.199.110.153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN A 185.199.111.153
-
For
AAAA
records:$ dig EXAMPLE.COM +noall +answer -t AAAA > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN AAAA 2606:50c0:8000::153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN AAAA 2606:50c0:8001::153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN AAAA 2606:50c0:8002::153 > EXAMPLE.COM 3600 IN AAAA 2606:50c0:8003::153
Remember to also check your
A
record.
-
-
If you use a static site generator to build your site locally and push the generated files to GitHub, pull the commit that added the CNAME file to your local repository. For more information, see "Troubleshooting custom domains and GitHub Pages."
-
Optionally, to enforce HTTPS encryption for your site, select Enforce HTTPS. It can take up to 24 hours before this option is available. For more information, see "Securing your GitHub Pages site with HTTPS."
Configuring an apex domain and the www
subdomain variant
Note
Setting up a www
subdomain alongside an apex domain is recommended for HTTPS secured websites.
If you are using an apex domain as your custom domain, we recommend also setting up a www
subdomain. If you configure the correct records for each domain type through your DNS provider, GitHub Pages will automatically create redirects between the domains. For example, if you configure www.example.com
as the custom domain for your site, and you have GitHub Pages DNS records set up for the apex and www
domains, then example.com
will redirect to www.example.com
. Note that automatic redirects only apply to the www
subdomain. Automatic redirects do not apply to any other subdomains, such as blog
. For more information, see Configuring a subdomain.
Navigate to your DNS provider and create a CNAME
record for the www
subdomain that points to your GitHub Pages default domain. For example, if your site is located at <user>.github.io
, you should create a CNAME
record that points www.example.com
to <user>.github.io
Similarly, for an organization site located at <organization>.github.io
, you should create a CNAME
record that points www.example.com
to <organization>.github.io
. Ensure that the CNAME
record points directly to <user>.github.io
or <organization>.github.io
without including the repository name.
For more information about how to create the correct record, see your DNS provider's documentation. For more information about the default domain for your site, see "About GitHub Pages."
Configuring a subdomain
To set up a www
or custom subdomain, such as www.example.com
or blog.example.com
, you must add your domain in the repository settings. After that, configure a CNAME record with your DNS provider.
-
On GitHub, navigate to your site's repository.
-
Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.
-
In the "Code and automation" section of the sidebar, click Pages.
-
Under "Custom domain", type your custom domain, then click Save. If you are publishing your site from a branch, this will create a commit that adds a
CNAME
file directly to the root of your source branch. If you are publishing your site with a custom GitHub Actions workflow, noCNAME
file is created, so you need to create one manually (containing only a line of text with your custom domain). For more information about your publishing source, see Configuring a publishing source for your GitHub Pages site.Note
If your custom domain is an internationalized domain name, you must enter the Punycode encoded version.
For more information on Punycodes, see Internationalized domain name.
-
Navigate to your DNS provider and create a
CNAME
record that points your subdomain to the default domain for your site. For example, if you want to use the subdomainwww.example.com
for your user site, create aCNAME
record that pointswww.example.com
to<user>.github.io
. If you want to use the subdomainanother.example.com
for your organization site, create aCNAME
record that pointsanother.example.com
to<organization>.github.io
. TheCNAME
record should always point to<user>.github.io
or<organization>.github.io
, excluding the repository name. For more information about how to create the correct record, see your DNS provider's documentation. For more information about the default domain for your site, see "About GitHub Pages."Warning
We strongly recommend that you do not use wildcard DNS records, such as
*.example.com
. These records put you at an immediate risk of domain takeovers, even if you verify the domain. For example, if you verifyexample.com
this prevents someone from usinga.example.com
but they could still take overb.a.example.com
(which is covered by the wildcard DNS record). For more information, see "Verifying your custom domain for GitHub Pages." -
Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.
-
To confirm that your DNS record configured correctly, use the
dig
command, replacing WWW.EXAMPLE.COM with your subdomain.$ dig WWW.EXAMPLE.COM +nostats +nocomments +nocmd > ;WWW.EXAMPLE.COM. IN A > WWW.EXAMPLE.COM. 3592 IN CNAME YOUR-USERNAME.github.io. > YOUR-USERNAME.github.io. 43192 IN CNAME GITHUB-PAGES-SERVER . > GITHUB-PAGES-SERVER . 22 IN A 192.0.2.1
-
If you use a static site generator to build your site locally and push the generated files to GitHub, pull the commit that added the CNAME file to your local repository. For more information, see "Troubleshooting custom domains and GitHub Pages."
-
Optionally, to enforce HTTPS encryption for your site, select Enforce HTTPS. It can take up to 24 hours before this option is available. For more information, see "Securing your GitHub Pages site with HTTPS."
Note
If you point your custom subdomain to your apex domain, you will encounter issues with enforcing HTTPS to your website, and you may encounter issues where your subdomain does not reach your GitHub Pages site at all.
DNS records for your custom domain
If you are familiar with the process of configuring your domain for a GitHub Pages site, you can use the table below to find the DNS values for your specific scenario and the DNS record types that your DNS provider supports. For more information, including how to configure your GitHub Pages site on GitHub and how to verify the configuration using the dig
command, refer to the sections above.
To configure an apex domain, you only need to pick a single DNS record type from the table below. To configure an apex domain and www
subdomain (for example, example.com
and www.example.com
), configure the apex domain and then the subdomain. For more information, see Configuring an apex domain and the www
subdomain variant.
Warning
We strongly recommend that you do not use wildcard DNS records, such as *.example.com
. These records put you at an immediate risk of domain takeovers, even if you verify the domain. For example, if you verify example.com
this prevents someone from using a.example.com
but they could still take over b.a.example.com
(which is covered by the wildcard DNS record). For more information, see "Verifying your custom domain for GitHub Pages."
Scenario | DNS record type | DNS record name | DNS record value(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Apex domain ( example.com ) | A | @ | 185.199.108.153 185.199.109.153 185.199.110.153 185.199.111.153 |
Apex domain ( example.com ) | AAAA | @ | 2606:50c0:8000::153 2606:50c0:8001::153 2606:50c0:8002::153 2606:50c0:8003::153 |
Apex domain ( example.com ) | ALIAS or ANAME | @ | USERNAME.github.io orORGANIZATION.github.io |
Subdomain ( www.example.com ,blog.example.com ) | CNAME | SUBDOMAIN.example.com. | USERNAME.github.io orORGANIZATION.github.io |
Removing a custom domain
If you get an error about a custom domain being taken, you may need to remove the custom domain from another repository.
-
On GitHub, navigate to your site's repository.
-
Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.
-
In the "Code and automation" section of the sidebar, click Pages.
-
Under "Custom domain," click Remove.
Securing your custom domain
If your GitHub Pages site is disabled but has a custom domain set up, it is at risk of a domain takeover. Having a custom domain configured with your DNS provider while your site is disabled could result in someone else hosting a site on one of your subdomains.
Verifying your custom domain prevents other GitHub users from using your domain with their repositories. If your domain is not verified, and your GitHub Pages site is disabled, you should immediately update or remove your DNS records with your DNS provider. For more information, see Verifying your custom domain for GitHub Pages.