CNAME

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

A CNAME is a DNS record that's like an alias or nickname. Instead of pointing to an IP address directly, it points to another domain name. So 'www.yoursite.com' can be a CNAME that just says 'same thing as yoursite.com.' Follow that name to find the real IP.

Real Talk

A CNAME record creates an alias from one domain to another. The DNS resolver follows the chain until it finds an A record with an actual IP. CNAMEs cannot coexist with other records on the same name and can't be used for root domains (use ALIAS or ANAME instead).

Show Me The Code

# DNS zone file examples
www.example.com.    IN  CNAME  example.com.
shop.example.com.   IN  CNAME  mystore.shopify.com.
blog.example.com.   IN  CNAME  myblog.wordpress.com.

When You'll Hear This

"Add a CNAME for www pointing to the root domain." / "Vercel gives you a CNAME to point your custom domain at."