CNAME record: the DNS entry behind a custom domain

A CNAME record is a DNS entry that says one hostname is an alias for another. A resolver asked for links.yourbrand.com is told to go and look up cname.gc.mw instead, and it follows the chain to whatever addresses that name resolves to today.

Why the aliasing matters

The alternative is an A record, which pins your hostname to a fixed IP address. That works until the address changes, and then it works for nobody until you edit DNS. A CNAME delegates the answer, so we can move servers, add regions or change providers without asking twenty thousand customers to update a record.

The cost of that delegation is the rule that trips everyone up: a CNAME must be the only record on its name. That is not a policy, it is how DNS resolution works, and it is why the record belongs on a subdomain. Providers that offer CNAME flattening or ALIAS records on the apex work around it, but the failure mode when they do not — mail silently stopping — is not worth the four saved characters.

What gc.mw does with it

Adding a domain generates a verification token, stored hashed. You add the CNAME to cname.gc.mw and a TXT record at _gc-verify.<host> carrying the token. Both are checked: the TXT proves you control the name, the CNAME proves it is actually pointed at us. Checks re-run every five minutes on their own, so a slow propagation resolves itself without anyone clicking anything.

Once both pass, the certificate is issued and links can be created on the domain. Unknown codes on your domain return a 404 on your domain — never a gc.mw page — so a typo in your printed material does not advertise us.

Custom domains are a Business feature, and the hard ceiling is fifty per workspace.

Example

For go.growcord.in the two records are a CNAME from go to cname.gc.mw and a TXT at _gc-verify.go.growcord.in. Most DNS hosts publish both within a few minutes; the slowest we have seen was a little over an hour, which is why the check repeats instead of failing.

Confirm what a hostname resolves to and what certificate it serves with the link checker.