Lovable Custom Domain: Setup and Moving It

What a custom domain on Lovable actually does

A custom domain is a name you own, pointed at a server that serves your site. Lovable hosting supports custom domains, so the Lovable-built app answers on example.com instead of the project's default URL.

Nothing about the app changes. It is still a React and TypeScript project styled with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui. The build output is the same static files. Only the address people type is different.

What you get from Lovable hosting beyond the domain matters for search. Apps created from 13 May 2026 use TanStack Start and are server-rendered, so every visitor and crawler receives full HTML. Older apps are React and Vite, rendered in the browser; Lovable prerenders them on request for verified search engines, link-preview bots and AI crawlers. That prerendering is part of Lovable hosting, not part of your code.

So the domain travels with you, but that crawler prerendering does not. We come back to that below.

Connecting the domain, step by step

The order is always the same, whatever host you use. Buy or keep the domain at a registrar, add DNS records that point it at the host, then tell the host the domain belongs to this project.

We do not publish specific DNS values here, because hosts change them. Take the exact record types and targets from Lovable's documentation at the moment you set it up, and copy them without editing.

1. Decide on www or the bare domain. Pick one as the primary and redirect the other. Mixing both splits links and confuses analytics.
2. Open your registrar's DNS panel. This is where the domain is managed, which is not always where it was bought.
3. Add the records Lovable asks for. Create them exactly as given, with no trailing characters and no extra subdomain in the host field.
4. Connect the domain in the Lovable project. The project needs to claim the name before certificates can be issued.
5. Wait for DNS to spread. Propagation can take minutes or hours. Do not change records while you wait; it restarts the clock.
6. Open the site over HTTPS. Check both example.com and www.example.com and confirm one redirects to the other.

Checks after the domain goes live

A domain that loads is not the same as a domain that is set up correctly. Run through the list below once, on the live address, not on a preview URL.

Pay special attention to anything that hardcodes the old URL. Absolute links in content, sitemap entries and JSON-LD written by hand can still point at the Lovable project URL after the switch.

• One canonical host. The non-primary version redirects, it does not serve a copy of the site.
• HTTPS everywhere. No mixed-content warnings from images or fonts loaded over plain HTTP.
• Internal links are relative. /pricing, not the full old URL.
• Environment variables rebuilt. Anything prefixed VITE_ is baked in at build time, so a URL stored in one only updates after a new build.
• Analytics and search console. Add the new domain as its own property; the old one keeps its own history.
• Titles and descriptions. On newer apps these come from the head() of each route in src/routes.

Taking the domain somewhere else

The export is a normal project. GitHub sync works on every plan; "Download codebase" as a ZIP needs a paid plan. Either way you get a repository you can build yourself with npm install and npm run build on Node 22, which writes static files to dist/.

Because the output is static, any static host will serve it: Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages. You point the same domain at that host instead, using their DNS records. Our export guide covers getting the code out, and Lovable hosting compares the hosting options.

One thing does not come with you. An older React and Vite app hosted elsewhere is client-rendered, with no crawler prerendering, unless you add prerendering yourself. Third-party SEO scanners already see an empty app shell on those apps. Moving the domain off Lovable hosting means real search crawlers can see that shell too. Is Lovable good for SEO? explains what each app type sends to Google.

Apps built on TanStack Start are server-rendered by the framework, so this is less of a concern, as long as the new host runs a server rather than only serving files.

What changes when the domain points at WordPress

Moving to WordPress is the same DNS move with a different destination. You install WordPress on a host, point the domain there, and the site answers on the same name. The pages change; the address does not have to.

Our converter at iqdesk.com/app takes the Lovable ZIP or a GitHub repository and produces a WordPress block theme: templates, header and footer template parts, one pattern per page, theme.json with your palette and fonts, and your images copied in. You review the result next to the original in WordPress Playground, in the browser, before you download anything. Conversion, review and the theme download are free.

Two domain-related details are worth knowing. Redirects in public/_redirects are carried over, so old paths keep resolving. Per-page titles and descriptions from TanStack Start head() are written into Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress, along with JSON-LD, page language and hreflang. Older React and Vite apps have no per-page meta to read, so you write those in the SEO plugin after install. Open Graph tags are not converted either way.

Install order matters: build the WordPress site first, on a temporary address, and switch DNS only when it looks right. The complete conversion guide walks through the whole move.

1. Install the theme. Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme → Activate. Pages are created on activation and the front page is set.
2. Keep staging out of the index. Tick Discourage search engines from indexing this site under Settings → Reading while you work.
3. Match the slugs. Set the permalink structure under Settings → Permalinks, then edit each page slug so paths match the Lovable site.
4. Confirm the front page. Settings → Reading → "Your homepage displays" should point at the page you expect.
5. Point DNS at the WordPress host. Use the records that host gives you, and remove the old Lovable records.
6. Untick the indexing box. Go back to Settings → Reading and allow indexing once the live domain serves the real site.

Keeping the URLs you already have

Links and rankings attach to full URLs, not to domains alone. If example.com/pricing becomes example.com/plans, that link is broken even though the domain never moved.

The safest move is to keep every path identical. List the routes from src/App.tsx on older apps, or the files in src/routes on newer ones, and give each WordPress page the same slug.

Where a path has to change, add a redirect from the old one to the new one. If your Lovable project already had public/_redirects, those rules are converted; anything new you add in WordPress, through your host or a redirect plugin.

Expect a short period where crawlers see both. That is normal. Keep the redirects in place permanently rather than deleting them after a month.

FAQ

Does a custom domain on Lovable cost extra?

Custom domains are supported on Lovable hosting. We do not publish Lovable's plan details here, because they change. Check Lovable's documentation at docs.lovable.dev for which plans include a custom domain and what else is required.

Can I keep my domain if I move off Lovable?

Yes. You own the domain at your registrar, not at Lovable. To move, you change the DNS records so they point at the new host, then connect the domain there. The domain name itself never has to change.

Will my SEO drop when I point the domain at WordPress?

It does not have to, if the URLs stay the same. Keep every page path identical, or redirect old paths to new ones. The bigger risk is leaving the staging indexing checkbox ticked, or forgetting per-page titles and descriptions on the new site.

Do I lose Lovable's crawler prerendering when I move hosts?

Yes, for older React and Vite apps. That prerendering is part of Lovable hosting. Hosted elsewhere, those apps are client-rendered unless you add prerendering yourself. Apps built from 13 May 2026 use TanStack Start and are server-rendered by the framework.

Does the IQDesk converter handle the domain for me?

No. The converter produces a WordPress block theme you download and install; DNS stays with your registrar and your WordPress host. It does carry over redirects from public/_redirects and writes per-page titles and descriptions into Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress.

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