How to connect a domain bought on Namecheap to a Vercel-hosted project.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ 1. Buy domain on │
│ Namecheap │
│ e.g. yourdomain.io │
└─────────┬───────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2. Add domain to Vercel project │
│ │
│ Vercel Dashboard → Project → │
│ Settings → Domains → Add Existing │
│ │
│ Vercel will tell you what DNS │
│ records are needed │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3. Add DNS records on Namecheap │
│ │
│ Go to: Namecheap Dashboard → Domain │
│ List → Manage → Advanced DNS │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ For apex (yourdomain.io): │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Type: A Record │ │
│ │ Host: @ │ │
│ │ Value: 216.198.79.1 (Vercel IP) │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ For www (www.yourdomain.io): │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Type: CNAME Record │ │
│ │ Host: www │ │
│ │ Value: <vercel-cname>.vercel- │ │
│ │ dns-017.com. │ │
│ │ (copy from Vercel Domains) │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ 4. Wait for DNS │
│ propagation │
│ (minutes → 48h) │
└──────────┬──────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ 5. Vercel auto-detects │
│ the DNS records │
│ │
│ ✅ Valid Configuration │
│ 🔒 SSL Certificate issued │
└──────────┬──────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ 6. Site is LIVE at │
│ https://yourdomain.io │
│ (redirects to www) │
└─────────────────────────────┘
| Step | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namecheap | Buy domain |
| 2 | Vercel | Add domain to project |
| 3 | Namecheap Advanced DNS | Add A record (@ → Vercel IP) + CNAME (www → Vercel DNS) |
| 4 | DNS servers | Wait for propagation |
| 5 | Vercel | Auto-validates + issues SSL |
| 6 | Browser | Domain is live! |
# Check apex A record
dig +short yourdomain.io A @8.8.8.8
# Expected: 216.198.79.1
# Check www CNAME
dig +short www.yourdomain.io CNAME @8.8.8.8
# Expected: some-id.vercel-dns-017.com.
# Check www resolved IP
dig +short www.yourdomain.io A @8.8.8.8
# Expected: Vercel edge IPs