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Setting up DNS with Namecheap

Namecheap is one of the most common DNS providers we see among Buttondown newsletters, so this guide walks through exactly where to add the records Buttondown asks for. If you're new to DNS in general, the email infrastructure glossary is a good companion.

info

This guide assumes Namecheap is managing your DNS — that is, your domain is set to Namecheap BasicDNS. If you've pointed your domain at another provider's nameservers (for example, Cloudflare), add your records there instead.

Finding your DNS records

  1. Log in to Namecheap and open your Domain List.
  2. Click Manage next to the domain you're setting up.
  3. Open the Advanced DNS tab.

This is where you'll add every record Buttondown shows you in Settings → Domains.

Two Namecheap gotchas

The Host field doesn't take your full domain. Namecheap appends your domain automatically, so enter only the subdomain label — mail, newsletter, and so on — or @ for your root domain. Entering mail.example.com would actually create mail.example.com.example.com.

Remove the default parking records. New Namecheap domains ship with a default CNAME Record for www (pointing at parkingpage.namecheap.com) and a URL Redirect Record on @. These can conflict with the records Buttondown needs — delete any default record whose Host collides with one you're adding.

Sending domain

Follow the records shown on your sending domain settings. Buttondown offers two paths; see Sending from a custom domain for the difference.

The managed setup delegates a subdomain (like mail.example.com) to Buttondown using two NS records. Namecheap supports this in Advanced DNS:

  1. Under Host Records, click Add New Record.
  2. Set the type to NS Record.
  3. In Host, enter just the subdomain label Buttondown gave you (for example, mail).
  4. In Value / Nameserver, paste the first value from Buttondown.
  5. Save, then repeat for the second NS record.

Manual setup

If you're using the manual records instead, add each CNAME Record and TXT Record exactly as shown, remembering that the Host field takes only the subdomain label.

Hosting domain

To serve your archives from your own domain (see URLs & domains for archives), add the record Buttondown shows you:

  • On a subdomain (recommended, for example newsletter.example.com): add a CNAME Record with Host set to the subdomain label (newsletter) and Value set to the value from Buttondown (typically custom-domains.buttondown.com).
  • On your root domain (example.com): standard CNAME records aren't allowed at the root, so use an ALIAS Record with Host set to @. Namecheap supports ALIAS records for exactly this case.
warning

You can't use the same subdomain for both sending (managed NS records) and hosting (a CNAME or ALIAS). DNS doesn't allow NS and CNAME-type records to coexist at the same name. Use two subdomains — for example, mail.example.com for sending and newsletter.example.com for hosting.

Leave TTL set to Automatic unless Buttondown tells you otherwise.

After you add the records

Namecheap usually applies changes within about half an hour. Head back to Settings → Domains and click Check records. If it's been a few hours and records still aren't validating, double-check that the Host field contains only the subdomain label (not the full domain) and that no leftover parking record is conflicting — and if you're still stuck, email us and we'll take a look.

For more on Namecheap's record types, see Namecheap's DNS documentation.