Connecting a custom domain to your Helmdesk instance

By default, your client portal lives at {your-tenant-slug}.helmdesk.ca. This guide walks through replacing that with your own domain — for example, support.youritcompany.com — so clients never see the Helmdesk domain at all.

Before you start

You'll need access to your domain's DNS settings (wherever you manage records for youritcompany.com — Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Route 53, whichever registrar or DNS host you use).

Step 1: Add the domain in Helmdesk

From Settings → Domains, add the domain you want to use. Helmdesk looks at the shape of what you enter and picks the right verification method automatically:

• A subdomain (like support.youritcompany.com) uses a CNAME record.
• A bare/apex domain (like youritcompany.com with no subdomain) uses a TXT record instead — apex domains can't carry a CNAME at their root, that's a DNS-level limitation, not a Helmdesk one.

Helmdesk shows you the exact record to add either way.

Step 2: Add the DNS record

For a subdomain (CNAME): point it at tenants.helmdesk.ca — the one shared address every customer's custom domain resolves through.

Type:  CNAME
Name:  support
Value: tenants.helmdesk.ca

For an apex domain (TXT): add a TXT record at _helmdesk-verify.youritcompany.com containing the verification token Helmdesk shows you.

DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to propagate, depending on your provider and the record's TTL.

Step 3: Verify

Back in Settings → Domains, click Verify. Helmdesk checks the DNS record immediately, and also re-checks automatically every few minutes in the background — so even if you click Verify too early, a domain that's still propagating will pick up and finish on its own without you needing to come back and click anything again.

What "active" means

Once verified, your domain moves to an active state and HTTPS is provisioned for it automatically — there's no certificate file to generate or upload yourself.

If something goes wrong

A domain that fails verification or is only partially set up never blocks your team — your portal stays fully reachable at your default {your-tenant-slug}.helmdesk.ca address the entire time, so a DNS mistake on your end is never something your clients notice as downtime.