Setup guide

Cloudflare

Cloudflare is the easiest place to do this. You invite me into your account with one narrow role called DNS, I add the two records that point your domain at your new site, and you keep the account, the billing and the domain the whole time.

Takes about 3 minutes.

Sign in to Cloudflare on the account that owns the domain
Go to dash.cloudflare.com and log in. It has to be the account the domain actually lives in, and the person doing this has to hold the Super Administrator role with a verified email address on the account.
That last part catches people out. If a former web person set the account up and gave you a lesser role, you will not see the invite option at all, and whoever holds Super Administrator has to do this part.
Open the Members page and select Invite
Members is an account setting, so look for it in the account menu rather than inside one of your domains. If you have several domains in there, it does not matter which one you were last looking at.
Cloudflare dashboard
Your accountMembers
Account Home
Members
Audit Log
Billing
Invite
Members sits in the account level menu, not inside a single domain. The Invite button is at the top of that page.
Enter my email, set the scope, and pick the DNS role
In the Invite members field, put jake@localcraftdigital.com.
In the Scope field: if this Cloudflare account holds only the one domain, leave it on Include and All domains. If you have several domains in there and you only want me on one, choose Include and A specific domain, then name it.
In the Roles field, choose DNS. If you narrowed the scope to one domain in the previous field, choose Domain DNS instead. If Domain DNS is not in your list, that is fine, pick DNS and tell me.
Invite members
Invite members: jake@localcraftdigital.com
Scope: Include / All domains
Roles: DNS, can edit DNS records
Administrator
Super Administrator - All Privileges
Continue to summary
Two fields matter. My address in Invite members, and DNS in Roles. Leave the Administrator roles alone.
Select Continue to summary, then Invite
Read the summary back to yourself. It should say my email address and the DNS role and nothing else. Then select Invite.
Cloudflare emails me the invitation. There is an option some large enterprise accounts have that skips that email, but it will not be on a normal small business account, so expect the email step to happen. I already have a Cloudflare login on that address, so it lands somewhere real.
Text me that it is done
Invitations do expire eventually, so a quick message means I accept it the same day rather than a week later. Once I accept, you will see me listed on the Members page with the DNS role next to my name.
I add two records and your site goes live
From your side there is nothing left to do. Here is what I add, so nothing on that screen is a surprise to you later.
Type Name / Host Value
A @ the IP address I send you
CNAME www the hostname I send you
The two values are different for every site, so I send you yours rather than printing them here. Copy them exactly, including any trailing dot.
Both records get their Proxy status set to DNS only, which is the gray cloud rather than the orange one. Then I watch Vercel until it reports the domain as valid and the security certificate has been issued, and I check the site loads on both yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com before I tell you it is live.

Type	Name / Host	Value
A	`@`	the IP address I send you
CNAME	`www`	the hostname I send you

Your email is not at risk here, and here is why

The usual way a website launch kills a company's email is a nameserver move: the domain gets pointed at a new DNS provider, the mail records do not come across, and mail stops. On Cloudflare that cannot happen in this job. Your DNS is already hosted at Cloudflare and it stays there. Nothing moves. Your MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records sit exactly where they are.

I am still working inside the same list of records that holds your mail settings, so I read that list before I touch anything, I add records rather than overwrite them, and I do not go near anything to do with mail. The orange cloud cannot reach your email either. Cloudflare never routes MX or TXT records through its network, so that setting only ever affects the website.

The one thing that genuinely can take your email down is ICANN's registrant email verification. If that address goes unverified, ICANN puts a hold on the domain and Cloudflare replaces your nameservers with parking ones. That stops the whole zone answering, so your mail stops with your website. If Cloudflare or ICANN ever emails you asking to confirm your contact address, click it. Do not let that one sit in the pile.

Last one. If anybody suggests moving your domain into my Cloudflare account instead of inviting me into yours, say no. That is a much bigger operation, it is where mail records actually do go missing, and it is not necessary. The invite does the job.

A few Cloudflare specifics

If you would rather add the records yourself

Completely fine, plenty of people prefer it. Send me a message and I will send you the two values, because they are different for every site and I cannot print them here. Then it is Add record, twice, inside the DNS Records page for your domain.

Add record

yourdomain.comDNSRecords

Type: A

Name: @

IPv4 address: the value I send you

Proxy status: DNS only (gray cloud)

TTL: Auto

Save

The apex record. Repeat with Type CNAME, Name www, and the hostname I send you. Set both to DNS only.

Taking the access back

Same Members page. Find my name, choose Revoke, confirm. It takes about five seconds and it does not affect your live website, because the records stay where they are. If you are on a plan where I look after the site, I will need it back the next time something changes, but you are never stuck with it. Cloudflare also keeps an audit log, so every change I make in there has my name on it.

If you get stuck

Text or call me at (314) 246-9224, or email hello@localcraftdigital.com. We will do it together on the phone, and it takes a couple of minutes. This page is here to save you a call, not to avoid one.