# How to change custom domain on Substack

Original: https://swyx.io/substack-change-domain
Published: 2023-03-17

> Since September, I've been running my AI newsletter on https://lspace.swyx.io

Since September, I've been running my AI newsletter on https://lspace.swyx.io 

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225824847-5cc1dfcc-f996-4957-8b17-3b28066b435a.png)

I've since acquired the https://latent.space domain, but Substack's shitty documentation doesn't offer any help on how to navigate a custom domain change (only how to add one for the first time).

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225824802-821cb6a4-97da-4e02-bbf9-e9da9bfe2ec7.png)

and the Disable Custom Domain button is so scary with zero empathy on how to arrange a fallback for old links to the old custom domain.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225824920-10fc0cec-afca-4585-9375-d8cc7e44a565.png)

I'm about to execute this change so just making a log of what I did (but also shame on Substack for not documenting this stuff). I am doing this at 11pm Pacific Time so as to minimize disruption.

---

1. hitting the Disable Custom Domain immediately chucked my substack address back to the old https://swyx.substack.com/ subdomain. https://lspace.swyx.io/ is 404ing.
2. now I can add a new domain
![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225825310-2d0c5008-86dc-4adf-894c-fedd32426155.png)
however it seems it is registered on cloudflare.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225825501-3231398a-c4ef-44d1-bdec-4369d8594f9b.png)

I went ahead and added the CNAME in my Google Domains panel 
![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225825830-a32d7e75-5caa-4c1c-9c50-cab95b7bdc39.png)

but substack still reported an issue.
![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225825858-7c91fcd2-ace2-411f-99fb-e891aabff820.png)

Google says "Changes are published immediately, but may take time to propagate" so I will wait a few minutes before panicking. 

update: when I click "Check Status" this is the new report

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225826039-b026a7eb-d4d1-4a37-bf7a-ae2ff9c73c35.png)

but when i refresh it goes back to the previous screen. seems unstable and buggy.

15 mins later...

ok www.latent.space seems to work now, but latent.space doesn't. let's try to add a web forwarding thing on google:

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6764957/225829443-de1c6f2c-93f4-4786-9479-2432abe003e0.png)

it does not work automatically, but after 10-15 mins it started working for me.