CNAME Setup

The Hosted Files subscription uses Cloudflare for SaaS to serve your AI visibility files directly from Indexora's edge network. You add one CNAME record at your existing DNS provider — that's the entire setup. No Cloudflare account, no server access, no code.

Files are served at your domain (e.g. yourdomain.com/llms.txt) and stay live automatically. When you regenerate files, they update without any redeployment on your end.

Requirements

• An active Hosted Files subscription
• Access to your domain's DNS settings (at your registrar or DNS provider)
• For root domain serving (yourdomain.com): your DNS provider must support CNAME flattening or ALIAS records. Cloudflare DNS, Route 53, NS1, and DNSimple all support this. Standard GoDaddy and some older providers do not — use a subdomain instead.
• For subdomain serving (ai.yourdomain.com): any DNS provider works — no special support needed.

Step 1 — Subscribe to Hosted Files

If you haven't already, subscribe at indexora.app/start. Choose Basic (1 file), Standard (full 12-file AI Visibility Kit), or Agency (multi-domain). You'll be redirected to the deploy page after checkout.

Step 2 — Enter your domain on the deploy page

Go to indexora.app/deploy. The Indexora Hosted option is selected by default. Enter your domain and click Set up. Indexora provisions your hostname on Cloudflare's network and shows you the exact DNS record to add.

Step 3 — Add the CNAME record at your DNS provider

Log in to wherever your domain's DNS is managed (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Cloudflare, Route 53, etc.) and add the record shown in the deploy page:

Type:   CNAME
Name:   @ (root domain) or ai (subdomain)
Target: serve.indexora.app
TTL:    Auto (or 3600)

Use @ for the root domain if your provider supports it, or a subdomain prefix like ai for ai.yourdomain.com. Either works — the subdomain route is universally supported.

No proxy toggle needed. If you're using Cloudflare DNS, leave the proxy (orange cloud) off — set it to DNS only (grey cloud). Indexora handles SSL via Cloudflare for SaaS on its own zone.

Step 4 — Wait for propagation

DNS changes typically take 5–30 minutes to propagate, though many providers apply them in under 2 minutes. The deploy page polls automatically and shows a confirmation once your hostname is active. You can also check with:

dig yourdomain.com CNAME
# or: dig ai.yourdomain.com CNAME

Or use dnschecker.org to check propagation across multiple regions.

Step 5 — Verify your files are live

Once active, your AI visibility files are available at your domain:

https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt
https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
https://yourdomain.com/ai-index.json

Standard and Agency plans include all 12 files. Basic includes the one file you selected at checkout.

robots.txt and AI crawler discovery

When serving from the root domain, robots.txt is live at yourdomain.com/robots.txt — exactly where crawlers expect it. No extra configuration needed.

If you're using a subdomain, add a reference in your existing robots.txt so crawlers can discover your AI visibility files:

# AI visibility files
LLMs-txt: https://ai.yourdomain.com/llms.txt

Keeping files current

With an AI Content Refresh subscription, files update automatically on your billing cycle. Without it, regenerate files anytime from indexora.app/generate — the Hosted Files CDN picks up the new version immediately, no redeployment needed.

Troubleshooting

• Files not loading after 30 minutes — double-check the CNAME target is exactly serve.indexora.app with no trailing characters.
• SSL certificate error — if using Cloudflare DNS, ensure the proxy is set to DNS only (grey cloud), not Proxied.
• Root domain CNAME not supported — switch to a subdomain (ai.yourdomain.com) or move your DNS to a provider that supports CNAME flattening such as Cloudflare DNS (free) or Route 53.
• Still not working — contact [email protected] with your domain and we'll diagnose it directly.