---
title: "Domains - Lentil docs"
description: "Use your free address, connect a domain you own, buy a new one, get help connecting it, and manage renewals."
url: https://uselentil.com/docs/connect-domain
updated: 2026-11-13
site: "Lentil"
---

[Docs](https://uselentil.com/docs)

### Docs menuDomains

# Domains

Every site starts on a free Lentil address. When you are ready, put it on your own domain: connect one you already own, or buy a new one inside Lentil. Your email keeps working, and the free address keeps working too.

## Your free address

Every site has a free address that works from the start and never stops, even after you add your own domain. Find it in **Settings**, **Domains**, under **Free address**, with a copy button. It also shows in the site's header, with **Connect a domain** beside it.

Your own domain is part of Pro. On a Free site, the domain screens say so and offer the upgrade, and show the exact charge before anything is paid. Prices are on [Plans, billing and credits](https://uselentil.com/docs/billing).

## Connect a domain you already own

1. Open your site, choose **Settings**, then **Domains**. Or press **Connect a domain** in the site's header.
2. Type your domain, for example `rosasbakery.com`, and press **Check my domain**. Lentil looks up where the domain is managed, what email service it uses, and what website it opens today. If you came from a website Lentil already read, your domain is filled in for you.
3. Follow the one next step Lentil shows. If your provider supports one-click connect, you see **Connect with** your provider: sign in there the way you always do and approve one change. Lentil never sees your password.
4. If not, or if you press **Show me the steps instead** (or **Show me how**), you get guided steps for your provider: where to click, which values to copy, and a live check that updates every 30 seconds as you work.
5. When the change is made, Lentil checks it, turns on HTTPS (the padlock), usually within 10 minutes, and emails you. You can close the page in the meantime.

Lentil makes `www` the main address, for example `www.rosasbakery.com`, and the plain `rosasbakery.com` sends visitors to it. If your old website already sent `www` to the plain address, the plain address stays the main one. Visitors to either now see your new site. If Lentil cannot tell where the domain is managed, pick your provider from the list under **Pick where your domain is managed**, or follow the general steps with **Show general steps**.

Screenshot: The result of Check my domain, with the Connect with button.

Lentil finds your provider and offers the quickest way to connect.

Your email is not touchedLentil only points your website records at your new site. Email that runs on the domain keeps working, and the steps never ask you to change email records or nameservers.

Ask your assistant

```
Connect rosasbakery.com to Rosa's Bakery. Find out where the domain is managed, and tell me the easiest way to connect it and what I need to do myself.
```

Uses `detect_domain_provider`, `start_domain_connect`, `start_guided_connect`, `get_domain_steps`, `check_domain`. [Connect an assistant](https://uselentil.com/docs/ai-assistants)

## Get help connecting

You do not have to make the change yourself. Both options are on the connect screen under **Prefer not to do it yourself?**

### Send the steps to whoever manages your domain

1. Press **Send these steps to whoever manages your domain**.
2. Optionally type **Their name** and **Their email**, and leave **Email me when** your domain **is connected** ticked.
3. Press **Send steps** to email them, or **Get a link to send yourself** to copy a link and send it by text or WhatsApp.

They open a page with only the steps for your domain, with a live check. No account and no password are needed. The link works for 14 days. Open helper links are listed under your domains, and you can turn one off there.

### Do it with us

Press **We will do it with you** to pick one of two ways. **Book a 15-minute call** opens a booking page: you share screens, you click and we tell you where. Where your provider has a collaborator role, you can instead **Add us as a collaborator**: follow the steps shown, then press **I sent the invite**. We connect the domain within 1 business day, then remove our access and email you. We never ask for your password.

## Buy a new domain

1. Open **Settings**, then **Domains**, and find the **Get a domain** card. It lists names that are free right now for your site. Use **Search for a name** to look for another.
2. Press **Buy and connect** next to a name.
3. In the dialog, check the owner details under **Domain owner** (they are filled in from your business profile; the required ones are first and last name, email, phone, address, city, state, postal code and country). The registrar emails this address once to confirm the owner, so confirm it within 15 days to keep the domain active.
4. Check the price, then press **Confirm purchase**. On a Free site you confirm Pro and the domain together in one step, and pay in Stripe Checkout.
5. Lentil registers the domain and connects it for you. The domain shows **Setting up** with progress through **Bought**, **Records added**, **Checking records** and **HTTPS**. It usually takes a few minutes, and you get an email when it is live.

Privacy protection, DNS and HTTPS are included. The new domain becomes your main address, and the free address sends visitors to it. You will not need to copy any records.

Domains cannot be refunded once registeredIf a payment is declined, nothing is charged. If Lentil cannot register the name, you are refunded and your site stays on Pro. Only a workspace owner can buy a domain; others see **Ask an owner**.

Ask your assistant

```
Suggest available domain names for Rosa's Bakery in Portland. When I pick one, show me the full quote, the renewal price and the owner details you would register it under, and only buy it after I say yes.
```

Uses `suggest_domains`, `buy_domain`. [Connect an assistant](https://uselentil.com/docs/ai-assistants)

## Manage your domains

Each domain in **Settings**, **Domains** has a status: **Waiting for DNS**, **Active**, **Needs attention**, **Setting up** (a bought domain still connecting) or **Disconnecting**. A note under it says what to do.

| What | How it works |
| --- | --- |
| Check now | Lentil checks automatically. Press **Check now** to check right away. A domain waiting on DNS is checked every few minutes at first. |
| Show steps | Returns to the guided steps for a connection that is still waiting. |
| Make primary | With more than one active domain, **Make primary** picks the one everyone sees. The others send visitors to it. |
| Remove domain | The trash button asks you to confirm and says visitors will no longer reach the site through this domain. Your free address keeps working. If disconnecting fails, press **Retry disconnect**. |
| Add a domain by hand | For experts: press **Show all details**, type any hostname and add its DNS records yourself from the table (**Type**, **Name**, **Value**, **Status**). Each address connects separately. |
| www and the plain domain | A daily check tells you if the plain domain stops forwarding to `www` or loses your site's addresses at your provider, and what to change. |

## Renewals for domains you bought

A domain bought in Lentil renews yearly. Under each active bought domain, a box shows **Renews** with the date and price, or **Expires on** the date when renewal is off, and an **Auto-renew** switch.

- With **Auto-renew** on, we email the workspace owners 30 days before and charge the saved card then. The email and the box say which card.
- With it off, the domain expires at the end of its term, and the owners get an expiry notice.
- If a renewal payment fails, the box says **The renewal payment failed. Update the payment method in billing; we try again daily.**
- A domain bought here is a Lentil domain: the trash button is not offered on it. To change it, [contact support](https://uselentil.com/docs/support).

Screenshot: An active bought domain with its renewal box and Auto-renew switch.

A bought domain with Auto-renew on.

## Who can use it

- Owners, admins and members can connect, check, make primary and remove domains, and ask for help. Clients can see the list but not change it. See [Team and roles](https://uselentil.com/docs/team).
- Only a workspace owner can buy a domain and change its auto-renew.
- Connecting your own domain needs the site on Pro. A site that lapses keeps its connected domains working but cannot add new ones.

## Limits and edge cases

- A site can have up to 10 domains.
- A domain whose DNS is never set up is disconnected 14 days after you added it, so someone else can use it. With an open helper link or help request the limit is 30 days. The note under the domain shows the date.
- DNS changes usually take a few minutes and sometimes up to a day. HTTPS starts once the records are found.
- Enter the domain only, without `https://` or a page path.
- If your old website redirected between `www` and the plain address, a browser that remembers it can loop. The steps warn you before you start, and a private window shows the new site.
- Custom domain connections are unavailable on an environment without them. The page says so.

## From an AI assistant

An assistant connected to Lentil works with your role. See [AI assistants](https://uselentil.com/docs/ai-assistants).

- `list_domains`: the site's domains with status, records still missing, primary, open helper links and bought domains' renewal details.
- `detect_domain_provider`, `get_domain_steps`, `start_guided_connect`, `start_domain_connect`: find the provider, get the steps, and start a guided or one-click connection. `start_domain_connect` returns a link for you to open and approve; an assistant never changes your DNS.
- `add_domain`, `check_domain`, `remove_domain`: add a hostname by hand, check it, and disconnect it.
- `create_domain_helper_link`, `revoke_domain_helper_link`, `request_domain_help`: send the steps to someone else, turn a link off, or ask us to help.
- `suggest_domains`, `buy_domain`, `set_domain_auto_renew`: find and buy a domain, and turn yearly renewal on or off (owners only).

Safety rules: `buy_domain` buys nothing until you agree. The first call returns a quote and the owner details; the assistant must show them, then call again with `confirmed: true` and the quote's `expectedTotal`. With no saved card it returns a Stripe Checkout link for you to pay. `remove_domain` should be confirmed with you first. Making a domain primary is done in the app.

**Still have a question?**Write to us from **Help & support** in the app's account menu, or from our contact page.

[Contact support](https://uselentil.com/contact)

Updated 9 November 2026