In this guide, we’ll walk through exactly how to host your application on Vercel, connect a custom domain, and configure DNS the right way. No hand-wavy steps. No skipped details. Just a clear, practical walkthrough from deployment to a live, secure URL.
Before we jump in, there’s one important thing to understand:
You don’t actually need a custom domain to publish your website.
Most hosting providers (including Vercel), automatically generate a default subdomain for you. That means your project can go live immediately, without touching DNS or buying a domain. It usually looks something like this:
your-project-name.vercel.app
It’s fast, It works, and for many projects, it’s completely fine.
Step-by-step instructions
We’ll be using GitHub as the Git provider and GoDaddy as the domain registrar where we’ll configure DNS.
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Go to https://vercel.com/signup and create an account, after that, you will redirected to https://vercel.com/new, that screen has the option to import a Git Repository.
Select Continue with GitHub and then grant Vercel permission to access your repositories.
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After that, Vercel will ask you to install their GitHub application. After installing, you should have an list of all your repositories.
Click Import on the repository you want to deploy.
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You’ll be greeted with a simple setup screen where you define the type of project you want to deploy.
There’s an Application Preset dropdown that includes several common frameworks, each with pre-configured build and output settings. If you’re using something standard like Next.js, React, or another popular framework, you can simply select the appropriate preset and Vercel will handle the rest.
If your project requires custom build commands or a specific output directory, you can manually configure those settings instead.
After clicking Deploy with a successful build (even if it doesn't, you are still allowed to visit your project dashboard), you will be greeted with this:
And that's it.
You now have a project live on the world wide web 🎉
From this point forward, every time you push to your main branch, Vercel will automatically trigger a new build and deployment. No manual uploads. No FTP. Just push your code and it ships.
I won’t go deep into the Vercel Project Dashboard here, but inside it you’ll find your live site under the Production Deployment card. You can click the “Visit” button to open it, or view the default domain listed in the Domains section of that same card.
Now let’s talk about what we’re really here for: configuring your custom domain.
Adding Your Domain in Vercel
Go to your Project Dashboard.
Click Domains in the left sidebar.
Click Add Existing, enter your domain name, and click Save.
Vercel will now display two DNS records you need to configure for your domain: one A record pointing your root domain (@) to Vercel’s IP address, and one CNAME record that routes the www subdomain to your Vercel deployment URL.
Keep this tab open we’ll use those values in the next steps.
Configuring Your Domain
Now let’s connect your domain to your hosting provider.
For this walkthrough, we’ll use GoDaddy to demonstrate the setup steps. This process is nearly identical across most domain registrars.
In GoDaddy, click your profile in the top-right corner and go to My Products.
Locate your domain and click DNS.
You’ll now see your domain’s DNS management screen.
Step 1: Configure the A Record
We’re going to point your root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) to your hosting provider.
Look for an existing record with:
Type: A
Name: @
If it exists:
Click Edit
Replace the Value with the A record value provided by Vercel here
Click Save
If it doesn’t exist:
Click Add
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Enter the following:
- Type: A
- Name: @
- Value: (the A record value from Vercel here)
- TTL: Leave as default
Click Save
Step 2: Configure the CNAME Record (www)
Next, we’ll connect the www version of your domain. This will make the traffic from www.yourdomain.com to be routed correctly without needing to expose a direct IP address.
What we’re essentially saying is: www.yourdomain.com → yourproject.vercel.app
To configure it:
Click Add
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Enter:
- Type: CNAME
- Name: www
- Value: (the CNAME value provided by Vercel)
- TTL: Leave as default
Click Save
Done! 🎉
We’ve updated GoDaddy’s DNS records to tell the internet where our website lives.
This DNS changes usually propagate within 5–10 minutes, but in some cases it can take up to an hour. Once propagation completes, your custom domain will be fully connected to your Vercel project, with automatic SSL handled for you.
