# Put client access links on your own domain

A link like `https://access.youragency.com/r/…` tells your client at a glance who is asking. You keep your website
where it is; a subdomain you do not use for anything else points at the service that shows the access request.

## Pick a subdomain

Use a subdomain, not your main domain: `access.youragency.com`, `onboarding.youragency.com` or `connect.youragency.com`.
Your website and email stay untouched.

## The records

| Record | Host | Value |
|---|---|---|
| **CNAME** | your subdomain, like `access` | the address the service gives you |
| **TXT** | `_cf-custom-hostname.access` | a code that proves the domain is yours |

![The link domain settings of Northlight Studio: access.northlight-studio.de waiting for DNS, with the CNAME and TXT records to add and a Check now button](/guides/images/own-domain-records.png "One CNAME and one TXT record, then the certificate follows.")

As with any DNS record, many providers want only the part before your domain as the host. If your DNS is on
Cloudflare, set the CNAME to "DNS only" (gray cloud).

## The certificate

Once the records are visible, a certificate for your subdomain is issued automatically, usually within 5 to 15
minutes. Until then new links keep using the service's own address, so nothing breaks while you wait.

## What happens when a client signs in

Your client opens the request on your subdomain. When they click "Sign in with Meta" or "Sign in with Google", they
pass briefly through the service's own address, because Meta and Google only send people back to the address
registered with them. After signing in they land on your subdomain again.

## Links you already sent

Links you sent before keep working on the old address. If you remove your subdomain later, links sent on it stop
working, so send new ones.


## Frequently asked questions

### Can I use my main domain instead of a subdomain?

No. The main domain usually hosts your website and needs other records; a subdomain keeps everything separate.

### Does my client see the service's address at all?

Only for a moment during the sign-in with Meta or Google, which returns to the service first and then to your subdomain.

## With Agency Client Onboarding

Your own link domain is in early access: ask for it in Agency settings. We register the subdomain, show both records,
and switch new links over once the certificate is live.

See it with the demo agency Northlight Studio in the [live demo](/demo): your client's side and the agency's view, side by side.