Lovable Custom Domain Stuck on Setting Up? Here's How to Unstick It

Why is my Lovable custom domain stuck on Setting up?

A domain stuck on Setting up means Lovable cannot yet see the DNS records that prove you own the domain and that it points to Lovable's servers. The status changes the moment those records resolve publicly. So the problem is almost never inside Lovable — it is that your A record, CNAME, or TXT verification record is missing, wrong, or has not propagated yet.

There are only a handful of reasons the status never flips to Active. Either the records were never added at your registrar, they were added to the wrong host (a trailing dot or a stray www), an old record is conflicting with the new one, or a proxy layer like Cloudflare is hiding the real record from Lovable's checker. Work through them in that order.

The single most common pattern we see in rescue tickets is what we call The Phantom AAAA — a leftover IPv6 AAAA record from a previous host that silently overrides your new IPv4 A record. Lovable verifies against IPv4, sees the wrong target, and parks the domain on Setting up indefinitely.

What DNS records do I need to add for a Lovable custom domain?

For a root domain (example.com) you add an A record pointing to Lovable's IP, plus a TXT verification record. For a subdomain like www, you use a CNAME instead. The exact values appear in your Lovable project under Settings then Domains when you add the domain — copy them verbatim. The table below shows the standard record shape so you can spot what is missing or wrong.

The Host (or Name) field trips up most people. At many registrars, the root domain is represented by the @ symbol, and www is its own entry. Do not type your full domain into the Host field unless your registrar explicitly requires it — that creates a record for www.example.com.example.com, which never resolves.

Set the TTL as low as your registrar allows (300 seconds or Automatic). A high TTL means an old cached record lingers for hours after you fix it, which is the most common reason a domain stays stuck long after the records look correct.

Related: fix env vars that vanish on deploy · browse all Lovable deployment errors

How long does a Lovable custom domain take to verify?

Most correctly configured Lovable domains verify within 15 minutes to a few hours. The named ceiling is the 48-Hour Rule: DNS changes are guaranteed to propagate globally within 48 hours, so if your records are correct and the domain is still stuck past that window, the records themselves are wrong — not slow. Do not wait a third day hoping it resolves on its own.

Propagation is not uniform. Lovable's verification server may query a resolver that still has your old record cached while your own browser sees the new one. That is why a domain can look correct from your laptop and still read as Setting up in Lovable. The fix is to lower TTL before changing records and to verify against a public resolver, not your local cache.

If you are inside the 48-hour window with correct records, the honest answer is wait and re-check. If you are past it, stop waiting and audit the records — something does not match, and time alone will not fix it.

Why does my AAAA record break the custom domain setup?

If a leftover AAAA (IPv6) record exists at your root, browsers and verifiers that prefer IPv6 will resolve to that old address instead of Lovable's A record. Lovable then sees the domain pointing somewhere it does not control and refuses to verify. This is The Phantom AAAA, and deleting the stale AAAA record is the single fix that unsticks the largest share of stuck domains.

You can confirm the conflict from a terminal: dig AAAA example.com +short. If it returns an IPv6 address you do not recognise, that is your phantom record. After deleting it, dig A example.com +short should return only the Lovable IP. Until those two commands agree, the domain will stay stuck.

1. Open your registrar or DNS provider's DNS records panel.
2. Look for any AAAA record on the root (@) or www host.
3. If the AAAA value was not provided by Lovable, delete it entirely.
4. Confirm only the Lovable A record (and TXT) remain on the root.
5. Wait for the TTL to expire, then click Verify or Retry inside Lovable Settings > Domains.

Do I turn the Cloudflare cloud orange or grey for Lovable?

Set it to grey (DNS only), not orange (Proxied). The orange cloud routes traffic through Cloudflare's proxy, which hides your real A record behind Cloudflare's IPs and intercepts the SSL certificate. Lovable's verifier then sees Cloudflare instead of your A record and cannot issue its own certificate, so the domain hangs on Setting up. Grey-cloud the A, CNAME, and TXT records and verification completes.

1. In Cloudflare, open DNS then Records for your domain.
2. Find the A record for @ and click the orange cloud icon so it turns grey (DNS only).
3. Do the same for the www CNAME and confirm the TXT record is present.
4. If SSL/TLS mode is set to Flexible, switch it to Full or use DNS-only so Lovable controls the certificate.
5. Return to Lovable Settings > Domains and click Verify.

Related: if you also see 404s on refresh after deploy

How do I force a stuck Lovable domain to re-verify?

Once your records are correct and the TTL has expired, you need to make Lovable re-check rather than wait for an automatic poll. The reliable reset is to remove the domain from Lovable and re-add it, which forces a fresh verification pass against current DNS. Do this only after you have confirmed your records resolve publicly, or you will just re-stick it.

Re-adding the domain sometimes generates a new TXT verification token. If it does, update the TXT record at your registrar to the new value — leaving the old token in place is a frequent reason the re-add also stalls.

1. Confirm records resolve: run dig A example.com +short and dig TXT example.com +short and check the values match Lovable.
2. In Lovable, go to Settings > Domains and click Verify or Retry once.
3. If it stays stuck, remove the domain from Lovable entirely.
4. Re-add the same domain — Lovable re-issues the verification token and re-checks immediately.
5. Watch the status; with correct records it should flip to Active within minutes.

My records look right but the domain is still stuck — what now?

When the records are correct, the AAAA is gone, Cloudflare is grey-clouded, and 48 hours have passed but the domain still reads Setting up, the problem is usually subtle: a conflicting record, a registrar that silently appends your domain to the Host field, a CAA record blocking certificate issuance, or DNS managed at a different provider than you think. At that point a focused audit beats more guessing.

Two quiet blockers catch experienced users. First, a CAA record that only authorises a specific certificate authority will stop Lovable from issuing its Let's Encrypt certificate even when A and TXT are perfect — add a CAA entry allowing letsencrypt.org or remove the restrictive one. Second, nameservers: if you changed nameservers (for example to Cloudflare) but are still editing records at the old registrar, none of your edits are live. Check which nameservers are authoritative before editing anything.

If you have worked through every item here and the domain still will not verify, that is the point to hand it to an engineer rather than burn another day. Our team unsticks Lovable domains as part of a focused deployment fix — we audit your live DNS, find the exact conflicting record, and confirm the certificate issues correctly.

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