How to Connect Your Bolt.new Creation to a Custom Domain from Cloudflare

#bolt #cloudfare #domain

If you’ve created a portfolio, project, or personal site with Bolt.new, you’ll probably want to make it available on your own custom domain instead of the default Bolt link. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I followed to connect my Bolt creation to a domain I registered with Cloudflare.
By the end, you’ll have your site live on your own domain in just a few minutes.

To make this work, we need to understand something called DNS. Don’t worry—it sounds technical, but it’s just the system that makes the internet usable.

🌐 What is DNS and Why Do We Need It?

Think of DNS (Domain Name System) as the phonebook of the internet.

Every website lives on a server with an IP address (a string of numbers, like 192.0.2.1).
Since no one wants to remember numbers, DNS translates easy names like paulinaave.com into the right server address.

When you type a website into your browser, DNS makes sure your request is sent to the right place.

That’s why, after buying a domain, you need to set up DNS records. These records are instructions that tell the internet:

A record → Points your domain to a specific server (like Bolt’s servers).
CNAME record → Creates an alias so subdomains (like www.myportfolio.com) also know where to go.

Without DNS configured, your domain won’t know which website to show—hence the common “site can’t be reached” error.

🛠 Step 1: Publish Your Bolt Creation to a Custom Domain

Inside your Bolt project:

Click the Publish button.
Select Custom domain.
Enter the domain name you already own (for example, myportfolio.com).
Bolt will verify the domain is registered.
Once verified, click Add Domain.

At this point, the domain is linked to Bolt, but won’t yet load your site until we fix the DNS records.

🔧 Step 2: Configure DNS in Cloudflare

Now we’ll fix the DNS issues Bolt reports. In my case, it asked me to add two records:

An A record
A CNAME record

Here’s how to add them in Cloudflare:

Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard and open the domain.
Go to the DNS settings tab.
Click Add Record.

➤ Add the A Record

Type: A
Name: (copy from Bolt’s instructions)
Value: (the IP address Bolt provides)

Click Save.

➤ Add the CNAME Record

Type: CNAME
Name: (provided by Bolt)
Target: (the Bolt target value)

Click Save.

⏳ Step 3: Verify and Wait for Propagation

After saving, Bolt should detect the updates.

You may see a status like “Waiting for updates” for a few minutes.
DNS propagation can take some time (anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours).

Refresh your browser or check your domain in a new tab. Once the records are live, your Bolt site will load on your domain.

🎉 Final Result

That’s it! Your portfolio or project built on Bolt is now available at your custom domain.

If it doesn’t work right away:

✅ Double-check your DNS records.
✅ Make sure Cloudflare’s proxy (orange cloud) is disabled if Bolt requires direct DNS.
✅ Be patient—DNS can take a little while to update globally.

✨ Wrap-Up

DNS may sound intimidating, but it’s simply the system that connects domain names to websites.

Once you understand that adding DNS records is just filling in a form with the right “address,” connecting Bolt.new to your domain is straightforward: